Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate
by Deadbeatloser22
Summary: Jon's an ordinary boy, with all the ordinary problems. But one night, when a severe storm brings the Heartless into his world, it's soon obvious everything is so much bigger. And something is waiting in the shadows... Contains SI and minor AU. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

All right, let's get this started then.

First up, the legal stuff. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.

All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders.

Second, content warning. This fic contains definite Self-Insertion/Sue and probable Canon Defilement, along with the occasional minor sporking from continuities outside KH canon. If any of this offends you, stop reading **NOW**. Although why are you reading fan-fiction if you get offended by Canon Defilement?

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part One

The rain was heavy and relentless, pouring from the sky and leaving nothing untouched. The water ran off of awnings and down gutters, and the streets almost seemed to be covered in a fine mist as passing cars kicked up spray from the road. And yet the lone figure walked on, occasionally moving to avoid a hurried pedestrian, his head lowered, and a wire trailing out of each of his ears and down into one of his trouser pockets. He managed to ignore the rain, if only because he was troubled by something else, leading him to shut out almost everything around him.

For several nights now he had been having a recurring dream. It had almost always been the same. Flashes of a street being consumed by darkness. Only last night it had been a lot clearer. The darkness was a horde of creatures, all identical yet completely unlike anything he had ever seen. A cascade of gold-yellow eyes stared out from the advancing darkness as the street and buildings collapsed into it. And then there was the voice that emanated from out of the abyss._  
The connection has begun. Your journey will begin soon enough…__Watch for the storm…_  
But what did it mean? Was it a premonition, or was he just going mad? And what did the voice mean about connections and journeys?

By now, the rain had finally stopped, but the water sat on the ground like a blanket. And yet, somehow, a peal of thunder came from the heavens. And then, hidden by the flash of lightning which was blinding in the darkness of the night, hundreds of ink-black creatures appeared all over the street. The boy turned and ran, trying to get somewhere, anywhere that wasn't full of those… things. He dodged down an alleyway, only to find a wall. Now he was cornered, and the monsters were closing in.

It was at that point that someone wearing a long, black hooded coat stepped from the shadows. He seemed to radiate an aura of nothingness, as though he wasn't actually there at all, and in fact should not exist. And yet he did, the paradox contributing to the feeling of dread running through the boy's heart. The strange man handed him something. It was a curved cylinder slightly wider than his palm, with a hemisphere on each and a small point in the middle. The strange man then stepped forward, putting himself between the boy and the creatures.  
"_It has started; nothing can be done to stop it. All you can do now… is to survive"._  
Then he ran toward the creatures, brandishing a weapon at an angle which made it impossible for the boy to see it clearly. And then it happened; a wave of darkness erupted from the ground and swallowed him.

Suddenly he was falling through the endless black, a strange ethereal wind giving the only sense of movement. He saw something rushing up towards him, and then he landed on a strange platform. It looked like a giant stained-glass window, and adorned with three symbols, each with a heart as its base, but with something drawn out of the point, one black, one white and the third a dark blue. The voice came out of the darkness again.  
_Your journey is about to begin; but are you ready to take the first steps? We will see soon enough…You have a weapon; perhaps it is best you use it…_

At once, the strange thing given to him by the hooded man appeared in his hand. The hemispheres seemed to be glowing slightly. Suddenly, a group of the same creatures he had seen in the street appeared on the platform. They stood about two feet tall, with large gold eyes and antennae the wriggled with each movement.  
"If this is a weapon, how do I use it?"  
It was at that point that he realised the area around his thumb and first finger depressed slightly. Squeezing harder caused a blade of bright blue light to erupt from the hemispheres, curving round in front and behind, culminating in a long twin point at the front end. The sound of the blades being summoned drew the attention of the creatures, which swarmed toward him. One of them made a jumping attack, and he raised the blade to block it, causing the creature to disappear in a cloud of black smoke. He swung out at another, the lower blade slicing through it and causing it to once again vanish in a cloud of black smoke. However, at that point something struck him from behind, sending him tumbling into the darkness again…


	2. Chapter 2

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.  
All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 2

The heat of the midday sun beat down upon the boy's face as he came round. It was the first thing he noticed, along with the sound of the sea close by. The second thing he noticed was the person standing over him; that, and the fact that his head seemed to be throbbing painfully.  
"Urgh… Where am I?"  
"What do you think?"  
The boy opened his eyes properly. The stranger was fairly short, with irregularly spiked up pale brown hair and electric-blue eyes. Sitting up, he could see a group of people a few feet away, the most distinctive being the tall one with the silver hair. Out to sea he could just make out a small island covered in trees and with what looked like a ship buried in the side of it. Looking down, he could see he was still wearing the same clothes he had been wearing when the whole thing started; the same part-zipped red and black sweatshirt, black t-shirt, grey-green trousers and silver-grey trainers. The only difference was that the strange item was now clipped to his belt. He scratched the back of his head lightly, puzzled by what was happening. His hair was a dark brown, with a small amount of spike to it, but nowhere near the level of the strange boy stood next to him.  
"I think I'm on a strange beach on a world in some strange corner of the universe. Why?"  
The stranger gave him a concerned look.  
"And how did you end up here?"  
The boy put his hand to his head. The pain was worse as he tried to remember what happened in the alleyway.  
"All I remember is some weird thing involving a lot of strange creatures and being sucked into darkness. Then I woke up here, now."  
"What about those creatures? Do you remember what they looked like?"  
"They were these strange black stumpy things with yellow eyes. They seemed to twitch a lot as well. Why?"  
The stranger recoiled with a look of both fear and familiarity, before running over to the group. They discussed what had been said. Although he couldn't hear everything, he picked out a few words.  
"…Heartless…"  
"…coming back…"

The strange boy came back over.  
"OK. If what you said is true, then we have quite a major problem."  
"How so?"  
"The creatures you described were called Heartless." This voice was female, and came from behind.  
"Heartless?"  
"They're these weird things that come from the darkness in everyone's hearts. They went around taking the hearts of worlds and destroying them. I'm no expert, but I think that's what happened to your home."  
"Seriously?" The boy placed a hand on the ground and levered himself into a standing position. The girl was not that much taller than he was, and was wearing what appeared to be a pink dress of some sort over a white one, with red-brown hair spilling over her shoulders. The strange boy was a bit taller still, with a black and white jacket and black knee-length shorts. Unfortunately the discussion was broken up by a scream from down the beach. The tall kid with the silver hair came sprinting over.  
"Hey. Whatever the problem was, I think it just got a lot bigger."  
The Heartless had returned to the Destiny Islands.

At once, the two local boys sprinted off in the direction of the swarm.  
"Is that really a good idea? Running straight toward the monstrosities that want to destroy the world?"  
"Normally, no, it wouldn't. It's OK though, they used to do this sort of thing all the time."  
"Used to?"  
"Well, we thought they were beaten a few months back. It would seem we got it a bit wrong…"  
The two boys were now engaged in full-on combat with the Heartless swarm. They seemed to be winning, but there also seemed to be no end to the swarm as the number of Shadows swelled beyond comprehension.  
"Ya think?"  
By now the huge numbers were beginning to overwhelm the pair, even as they fought back. The boy was getting flashbacks of that time on the strange platform…_  
You have a weapon; perhaps it is best you use it…_  
Remembering the losing battle he had fought on the platform, and realizing he couldn't just stand back and do nothing, the boy pulled the item off his belt and ignited the blade with the same electrical hiss as before.  
"What are you doing?"  
"You said it yourself. These things destroy worlds, and I'm not about to just stand here and let it happen again!" And with this, he charged, trailing his weapon behind him, straight at the ongoing melee. The closest Shadow turned towards him just in time to take a blade to the side of the head as he brought it round in a clumsy arc that inadvertently sent him spinning through a crowd of them, but brought him down to earth with a bump as he fell over out of disorientation. Shaking the stars out of his eyes, he saw another shadow trying to jump on top of him and raised his weapon defensively, just like on the platform. It ended the same way as well, with the creature hitting the blade and dissipating. He stood up, and began swinging the weapon in long arcs, almost knocking himself off-balance several times after swinging too vigorously, but holding on just enough to start another swing. But even with three fighters, there was nothing that could be done to stop the heartless from swarming out into the sea and heading for the small island, leaving the group stood alone on the beach, everyone else having fled to relative safety. The kid with the silver hair was particularly angry at their apparent failure, but all three natives knew what would happen next.  
"So that's it then. They find the heat of the world, and everything vanishes into darkness."  
"So what can we do?"  
"We escape." The spiky-haired kid spoke up.  
"But how?" The newcomer was skeptical.  
"Follow me."

The group eventually reached a small cove, where some of the water appeared to be displaced by an angular object that was invisible to the untrained eye. The spiky-haired kid, who seemed to be the leader, took a small yellow object out of one of the pouches strapped to his legs and tapped it, making a ship appear, floating on the water. A hatch lowered, providing an entrance. Behind them, a terrific screeching noise drew their attention to the fact that a wave of darkness was spreading over the land.  
"We don't have much time. Get aboard, now!"  
The group surged up the ramp, closing it just before the wave reached the ship. The assault rocked the vessel, and from the cockpit they could see the cliffs beginning to sink into it.  
"Sora, are you sure this is gonna work?"  
"Would I be trying it if it wouldn't? And besides, we don't really have any other choice." Sora's voice seemed to be tempered by a combination of arrogance and fear. This was the second time he had seen his home destroyed by the heartless, and he had no intention of allowing it to happen anywhere else again. "Engaging main engines; let's get out of here."  
The Gummi Ship lifted itself out of the darkness with some minor resistance, before speeding off into the void between worlds. Behind it, the world that was the Destiny Islands slowly collapsed in on itself and vanished into the darkness once more.  
"So what now?"  
"I think the best thing to do would be to…" Whatever it was that Sora was about to suggest was cut off by something hitting the ship.  
"What was that?" The strange boy was alert again, having zoned out through the takeoff. Sora pressed a few buttons on the console in front of him.  
"Heartless ships, coming in from the rear. Riku, get on the weapons, see if you can drive them away." He pointed to the chair to his left.  
"Got it." The silver haired boy sat down and hit a few buttons experimentally. The screen in front of him showed a cluster of purple and dark blue ships closing fast. Hitting a few more buttons cause a laser to fire on the lead ship, blasting it to pieces and causing the others to retreat.  
"Anyway, like I was saying, the best thing to do would be to head back to the Radiant Garden. If the Heartless are back to their old tricks we should let everyone know."  
"What about him?" Riku gestured at the stranger, who was stood at the back, looking at the stars.  
"What do you mean?"  
"I mean why he ended up there on the beach at that point in time. It all seems a bit too convenient."  
"Maybe Merlin or someone will know. Either way, it wouldn't hurt to find out." And with that, Sora banked the ship to the left and off into the void…


	3. Chapter 3

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.

All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 3

The Gummi Ship flew low over the recently reconstructed Radiant Garden. It was still damaged in places, a reminder of the Battle of the Thousand Heartless and the attack by the MCP, but the majority of the urban area had been restored at least to the state it was in before either battle. It then yawed round and touched down just beyond the marketplace. The ramp lowered to reveal that someone familiar was already waiting for them.  
"Sora!" Yuffie was stood in the market square, hyperactive as ever. But even she could tell something was wrong. Possibly from the way Sora looked a lot more withdrawn than the last time they'd met. "Sheesh. What's wrong? Here you are walking round with a face like a wet weekend."  
"Sorry. Where's Leon? I think we may have quite a major problem."  
The group gathered in Merlin's house as Sora brought everyone else up to speed. Leon remained as outwardly stoic as ever, but it was obvious that the revelations troubled him.

"So the Heartless have returned once more…"  
"But how? If all the keyholes are locked, how can they be able to spread and destroy worlds again?" Sora was, if anything, more confused than he was when he had started explaining.  
Merlin, the wizened old sorcerer, spoke up at this point.  
"I'm not entirely sure, but I believe the destruction of the Organisation's false Kingdom Hearts may have led to all the sealed keyholes opening again. However, with the recent resurgence of the Heartless it is likely that many of those worlds have already fallen into darkness and been destroyed."  
"So what about him?" Sora indicated the stranger, who has now sat in the corner, wires trailing down the sides his neck as he tried to shut out the world again. "How was he able to survive being thrown between worlds like that without protection, and happen to wash up on the beach right before the Heartless arrived?"  
"Hmmm… What did you say his name was?"  
"I didn't. He hasn't told me."  
"I see…" He walked over to the boy, who looked up, realised what was going on, and pulled out one of the earphones. "So what's your name then?"  
"Jon."  
"Nice to meet you, Jon. My name is Merlin." He looked down, and noticed the item on Jon's belt. "What is that, by the way?"  
"This? Just something I was given back when this started. Stand back." Jon took the item off his belt, and ignited it.  
"Well. I haven't seen one of those in years."  
Sora was quizzical.  
"What is it?"  
"It is a Beam Sword. They used to be a common weapon among those who could not, for whatever reason, wield Keyblades during the last war, but with the relative peace that followed most were lost. The blade itself is formed from Thunder Magic, making it effective against Heartless and other beings of Darkness. But as to what led him to be where you found him at that time, I really cannot say."  
"For now, it doesn't matter. What matters is stopping the Heartless from destroying everything all over again." Leon was trying to bring the discussion back on track. However, they were interrupted by a scream from outside, along with the rhythmic buzzing sound of the Claymore defence system. Yuffie burst in from the street, seriously out of breath.  
"Heartless! The Market Square is swarming with them!"  
"Great… Right where we need to go." Sora's sarcasm was so obvious it was almost painful.  
Cid, the technical genius who had designed just about every piece of machinery in the city, stopped the group just before they turned to leave.  
"Hey Sora, before you go, take these with you." He was holding a set of blue Gummi blocks, each about the size of a computer mouse.  
"What are they?"  
"Communication blocks. They should help you stay in contact with each other and your ship whilst you're off adventurin'."  
"Right. Thanks." Sora put the blocks into one of his pouches, and the group ran for the door.

Yuffie was right. Shadow Heartless swarmed across the marketplace, blocking the group's path back to the Gummi Ship.  
"Here we go again." Riku was as snarky as ever, even if he seemed to be as stoic as Leon most of the time. Sora looked over at Jon, who seemed to be shaking slightly out of fear.  
"Hey; You OK?"  
"Yeah, let's just get on with this."  
"Right."  
With that, the group drew their weapons; Sora producing the Kingdom Key from nowhere at a point along his waist, Riku swinging the Way to the Dawn off his back and Jon buzzing up his Beam Sword. However, the potential melee was interrupted by a shadowy figure appearing in the centre of the square._  
How pathetic. Do you really believe you can prevent the inevitable?__ No matter. All the worlds shall be under my rule soon enough. For now though, I have more important things to deal with…_  
And with that last remark, the figure vanished, taking the Heartless swarm with it.  
"Strange. Who was that, and why choose to leave when they apparently had the upper hand?" Jon was surprised by the show of leniency from the strange figure.  
"I don't know, but I have a feeling we'll find out soon enough. Right now we need to get moving." Sora was already halfway up the ramp on the Gummi Ship.  
"But where do we go now?"  
"I think it's time to go visit some old friends…"  
And with that, Sora gently lifted the ship off the ground, fired the engines and sent it zooming off into the void.

The Disney Castle was as quiet and serene as ever, still protected by the Cornerstone, which had kept the Heartless at bay for many years. Far below, in the Hangar, the large door that separated it from the void slid back, and the ship came to rest soundlessly on the same pad it had first departed from over a year ago. Once the ship was secure, Sora dropped the ramp and went to disembark.  
"OK. Jon, Kairi, stay with the ship. Riku and I'll sort everything out upstairs."  
And with that the pair of them stepped off the ramp and out of the hangar.

"So the King already left?" Sora was at least a little surprised by this revelation.  
"Yes. Once he saw the stars disappearing again, he left immediately to try to find out what was wrong this time." It was obvious the Queen was saddened by this and the other troubling events that had already occurred.  
"And how long ago was that?"  
"About a month ago. Since then we haven't heard anything."  
"Oh, come on Sora, you knew that already. Remember the Letter he sent us?" Riku was referring to the message that had washed up on the beach not that long after they had returned home.  
"Right then. We need to get going as soon as possible. The only plan we have is to seal the remaining keyholes and to work out where the Heartless are being controlled from this time, and who's doing it. So, Donald, Goofy, up for one more adventure?"  
"Ready as ever."  
"You betcha, Sora."

On board the ship, Jon was back in "shut out the world" mode when the ramp dropped. He looked up, and was mildly surprised about who Sora brought back with him. But since neither was really the weirdest thing he'd seen that day he just went back to staring at the floor again trying to ignore everything.  
"So who's that then?" Donald, whilst easily the wisest of the pair, was sceptical about the stranger.  
"Oh, Him? He just washed up on the beach right before the Heartless arrived. We aren't really sure what the deal with him is yet, only that he seems to be trying to hide from the world sometimes." He walked over and shook Jon lightly on the shoulder, who looked up and removed one earpiece. "Hey. Jon, meet Donald and Goofy."  
Jon nodded once, both in acknowledgement and greeting, then popped the earpiece back in and went back to staring at the floor.  
"Right, I guess it's time to get going then."  
Sora the proceeded to lift the ship off the pad and send it zooming off towards the first world they needed to seal…


	4. Chapter 4

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.  
All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 4

World: Outlaw's Forest

The world ahead was covered in a jungle. Or possibly a forest, it was impossible to tell. A castle loomed out of it, the only point of interest anywhere. The Gummi ship skimmed the treetops, before settling down gently in a clearing and turning invisible again.

Stepping off the ship, it became apparent that everyone had changed, at least visually, into a group of anthropomorphic animals. Sora and Kairi were foxes, Riku was a wolf and Jon had become a dog. In addition, everyone's clothing had turned more or less the same shade of dark green. That said; everyone still had some of their more distinctive features, such as Sora's hair, apparent even in animal form.

"OK. All we need to do is to find and seal the keyhole before the Heartless get to it. Sounds simple enough."  
Sora's optimism would have been justified had an arrow come zooming out from the tree line, followed by a fox and a bear, both clothed in green, and a group of wolves, in uniforms in various shades of purple, carrying longbows.  
"What was that all about?" Donald was the first to get back up off the ground.  
"No idea. But I say we find out." Sora jumped up and ran for the trees in pursuit of the other group. Riku rolled his eyes then took off after him, and soon the entire party was running through the forest after the strange group.

Eventually, they came upon the Wolves in another clearing, who were looking around in confusion, at least until the party arrived, at which point they levelled their bows at them.  
"OK, that's uncalled for." Jon was surprised.  
As if to prove they were serious, one of them loosed off an arrow which thudded into a tree-trunk.  
"Okay…" He trailed off, before grabbing the Beam Sword from his belt and igniting it. Everyone else followed suit, producing weapons from no-where. Even Kairi, who didn't seem like a fighter at first glance, had pulled out a Keyblade from thin air. Hers was bronze, with a floral design on the head and an ocean design on the hilt. However, realising this was a fight they could not win, the wolves broke and ran.

At once, the fox dropped from the branches, safe now that the danger had passed. Everyone stowed their weapons, guessing that a fight was not likely. Sora spoke up.  
"Hey. What's going on?"  
"Not much…" The fox began, but trailed off as a hoard of Shadows rose up out of the ground. Everyone immediately grabbed their weapons, the fox pulling a sword that was tucked into his belt, before the Heartless charged. The fight was short, but effective, and resulted in the Heartless fleeing to the tree line and off into the wood.  
"So anyway, what's going on?" Sora asked the fox again.  
In the distance, the sound of a trumpet could be heard over the trees, along with the heavy footfalls of a marching column. The bear then dropped out of the tree carrying a purple bundle.  
"Come on, 'else we're gonna miss it."  
"Right. Why don't you guys get up there and watch this." The fox indicated the tree they had just dropped out of. Most of the group climbed up, but Jon simply put his hand (paw?) against the trunk, finding it somehow familiar. Sora stuck his head out of the canopy.  
"Hey, what's up?"  
"Nothing. I just keep feeling like I've been here before." He then took hold of a low hanging branch and swung himself up into the treetops. Below them, they could see a convoy moving along a dirt road, full of various animals. The two most striking features were the Gold coach, and the four Rhinos carrying a locked chest. By the roadside, what appeared to be two beggars flagged the convoy to a stop, and proceeded to sneak several items out of it, including the coach's hubcaps and the contents of the chest. However, as they attempted to sneak away from the convoy, two things went wrong. First, the convoy took off towards them at speed, only to be halted when the wheels fell off the coach, and second, they were waylaid at the tree line by a group of Shadows and Soldier Heartless. Sort-of knowing what they had to do, the party leapt from the tree, weapons drawn, ready to fight. This fight was a bit more brutal, with blows being traded by either side. However, in the end, all that remained was a few wisps of black smoke, the only clue that the Heartless had ever been there at all.

Deep within the forest, a large clearing stood, broken only by the massive oak tree at its centre. In the shade of its boughs, the group stopped to rest. By now, the strange pair had discarded their disguises, and the loot had been placed into a number of sacks.  
"So, who are you then?" Sora asked the strange fox.  
"I thought you'd know that."  
"We're new round here."  
"I see. I'm Robin. Robin Hood. And he," he indicated the bear "He's Little John."  
At this point, Jon's face appeared to light up as he realised why he found the place familiar, if just that bit different. He had been here before, just in a different time and a different world.

Later, the group was in a different clearing, where something was on the boil over a fire and various bits of clothing were hanging on a line between two trees. Robin was discussing something with a badger in a monk's habit, whilst the rest of the party was sat to one side. At least most of them were. Jon was sat a bit further off, staring at the sky and listening to the wind running through the trees.  
"Hey. What's up?" Jon looked round to see Sora crouched behind him.  
"Oh, nothing; It's just I finally realised why I thought I recognised this place."  
"Why's that?"  
"Because it existed in my world as well, just not like this; Sherwood Forest, supposed home of the legendary outlaw Robin Hood, who is said to have robbed from the rich to give to the poor."  
In the background, the badger could be heard choking on something briefly, before Robin came over.  
"Right; I've got plans to enter a little archery competition, but I'll need to do it in disguise. So I need you to cover for me in case anything goes wrong."  
"Expecting trouble?"  
"No, it's just that with the Prince there everyone's going to be that bit more alert. So you just need to keep an eye out for anyone getting too curious. Or if those strange creatures show up again."  
"Right, let's do it."

A few days later, the tournament field was set for the competition. Tents of every shape, size and colour littered the field, and a set of targets was in place. The competition itself was already underway, with archers from far and wide showing off their skill to the assembled crowd. Round behind the tents, something stirred. A single shadow popped out of the ground, before being rather swiftly run through by a Keyblade. However, more and more of them started to appear, and it was obvious they needed to be contained before they caused a panic. The party, their faces hidden by brown cloaks, split up to try to stop them spreading into the open areas. By now, the tournament was drawing to a close, and the winner, a stork by the looks of things, approached the royal pavilion to claim his prize. Jon was watching from by a large red and yellow tent. At the pavilion, he could see a vixen, a lion and (presumably) Little John in disguise. The lion wore a crown, meaning that was most likely Prince John, the tyrannical ruler of England in the legend, and usurper of the throne. The prince drew a sword, and laid it across the back of the stork.  
"And so do I declare you the winner. Or rather…" And at this point he placed the sword in the gap that had appeared between the back of the jacket and his neck, and then pulled it upward, tearing off the jacket. "…The Loser."  
The Stork was Robin's disguise.  
"Guards! Seize him!"

Within seconds Robin was bound in ropes and chains before the prince. Behind him, the party formed a line a bit further back, still disguised, and waited.  
"And so do I sentence you to sudden, instant, and even immediate death! Bring in the executioner!"  
A drum beat signaled the arrival of the black-garbed rhino carrying a large axe. It was obvious that everyone was scared. The shocked faces in the crowd were a testament to that.  
"Execution? On what grounds?" Robin was defiant as ever.  
"Traitors to the Crown must die!"  
"Traitors to the crown? That crown belongs to King Richard. Long live King Richard!"  
That one line seemed to inspire the crowd, who all began chanting "Long Live King Richard!" at the top of their lungs. This seemed to drive the prince over the edge.  
"Enough! I am King! King! King! Off with his head!"

However, at that moment the group flung off their cloaks and drew weapons. Seizing the initiative, Sora rolled under the closing guards and slashed through the ropes binding Robin with his Keyblade, freeing him. Unfortunately, this action tripped off a severe melee as the party and the guards started fighting, turning the arena into a veritable war-zone. At one point, bizarrely, some of the guards got caught up in one of the tents and started charging it around like a train, and one of the civilians started attacking the guards as if it were all a football game. Somewhere in the middle, Riku and Sora got backed against each other, still fighting.  
"Still sure this was a good idea?"  
"Of course I do."  
By now, almost everyone had escaped to the safety of the forest, leaving only the party on the field and a few guards in various states of unconsciousness.  
"I think now would be a good time to get out of here…"

That night, in the clearing with the great Oak tree, everyone was celebrating. Well, almost everyone. Sora was sat to one side, staring at the moon. It was at that point that the Keyblade appeared in his hand and started to glow. Following its directions led him to the back of the tree, where, in the light emanating from the Keyblade's tip, a small shape in the trunk; the shape of a Keyhole. He swung the blade over his shoulder, a movement he had performed so many times it was almost a reflex action, sending a thin string of light into the tree, making the keyhole glow, before the sound of the lock closing could be heard. Slowly and silently, the party slipped back into the forest and left the world behind.

As the celebration of this one moment of liberty continued around him, Robin looked to the sky. Just for a moment, he thought he saw something moving out of the forest, before it shot off with a flash.

A/N: So, there we are then, the first "proper" chapter so far. For those of you playing along on TV Tropes, or for those who just don't know, this world was based on Disney's 1973 animated version of the Robin Hood legend.

While I'm at it, I might as well make a plug, for Kestrel Harper's Kingdom Hearts fic Exodus from Oblivion. Possibly one of the most original Self-Insert fictions I've read, it's probably what inspired me to start writing this in the first place.


	5. Chapter 5

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.

All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 5

The group sprinted out of the ship's hold as tentacles smashed into the deck around them. Up ahead, the Gummi ship was flying low, ramp down. Around them, the Heartless were swarming all over the vessel and trying to slow them down, and dead bodies and bits of burning flesh littered the deck.  
"Come on, we've got to jump!"  
They almost made it. Almost. One of them would have slid off the ramp into the chaos below had one of the others not leapt out and grabbed their hand at the last second.

At least, that's what should have happened. Unfortunately, what actually happened was that the weight dragged the two of them off the ramp and down into the maw of the creature below.

But how did it come to that?

World: Port Royal

The Gummi ship skimmed the surface of the ocean; the twin wakes left behind it the only disturbance in the smooth azure carpet. Up ahead, another ship could be seen on the horizon, beached on an island.  
"Hey, isn't that the _Black Pearl_?" Sora recognised it from his last visit here. He pressed a few buttons on the console, enlarging the image on the inside of the dome. Sure enough, it was the _Pearl_, beached and tied down on the coastline. Next to it, a lone figure could be seen shouting up at the ship.  
"Will?"  
He swung the ship round and touched it down on the beach, dropping the ramp.  
"Right; Riku, Donald, stay with the ship. We may need you to come pick us up if something goes wrong. Everyone else, let's go."

By the time the group reached where the _Pearl_ was beached, Will had moved into the jungle in search of the crew, the ship being visibly deserted. However, suddenly a yell erupted out of the trees, causing a number of birds to take flight.  
"What was that?"  
"No idea. But we're not going to find out if we just stand here." And with that, Sora sprinted into the undergrowth, followed closely by everyone else.  
Soon enough, they reached a break in the canopy, where Will could be seen hanging from a rope, waving his sword threateningly at a group of natives, before one of them knocked him out with a blow-gun. Jon felt his hand straying toward the Beam Sword at his waist but Kairi stopped him from doing something stupid.  
"Wait. We need to see where this goes."

The group followed the natives to a village which straddled a ravine in the hilltops. Hiding in the bushes, they could see Will being carried across the bridge lashed to a tree-trunk. However, it was hard to see what was going on across the way. Realising the solution to the problem, Jon pulled a pair of compact binoculars from a pouch on the back of his belt. Everyone seemed surprised by this.  
"How long have you been carrying those for?"  
"Since before this started."  
"Whatever; Can you see what's going on?"  
"See for yourself." Jon passed Sora the binoculars. He surveyed the scene for a few minutes, with a look varying from uncertainty to surprise.  
"If that is Jack, what is he doing?"  
Across the gap, Jack Sparrow appeared to be giving Will something of a walk-around examination, noting a couple of things to the natives, before they lifted the trunk again and carried him off.  
"Come on. We should probably follow them."  
However, as soon as they came out of the cover of the brush, they were set upon by a swarm of Heartless. Everyone drew their weapons again.  
"Oh, here we go again." Whatever fear Jon had felt during the last encounter had faded. It's surprising how fast some people can get used to that sort of thing.  
"We need to keep moving. Let's go."  
What happened next was a running battle as the group tried to keep chase with the natives who were still carrying Will roped to the tree trunk. The problem was that they were almost constantly assailed by various Heartless, both Soldier and Shadow, and would occasionally have to stop to fight a pack of them.

Unfortunately, they were delayed by this constant chain of battles, and so by the time they had caught up Will had been placed into a spherical cage made of bones along with some of the crew, who had then proceeded to drag it up onto the top of the cliff.  
"Sora! Over here!"  
"Hey. What happened?"  
"I came here to find Jack. Only problem is that the natives plan to kill him to free a god if we don't do something."  
"I get it. You need help getting out?" Sora whacked one of the joint with the Keyblade, but nothing happened. It was the same with everyone else's weapons. However, the shouting from across the bridge made it clear someone had seen their little escape attempt.  
"Roll the cage! Hurry!"  
The crewmembers in the cage started to roll it, heading for the coast, before taking an unexpected fall as they hit the slope leading up to the cliff, causing the whole thing to roll out of control. Everyone else ran behind, trying to keep up, and a group of natives followed, firing off the occasional arrow to try to slow them down. Suddenly, the cage dropped into another ravine, shattering on the rocks and dumping the occupants into the river. Sora managed to stop just on the edge, but unfortunately everyone else piled into the back of him and they fell in too.

Having grown up on an island chain, neither Sora nor Kairi were particularly weak swimmers, and to be fair Jon wasn't too bad either, but Goofy was a very weak swimmer, mostly because he'd never really had any need to before. Sora grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him through the water to where everyone else was sheltering from the rain of spears and arrows from above. However, shouts from above drew off their attackers, allowing the group to swim to safety, Sora still dragging Goofy by his jacket collar.

On the beach, everyone was attempting to unhitch the _Pearl_ from its moorings. Time was short, as the pursuing natives could return at any time. Eventually the ship came free and slid into the rising tide.  
"What about Jack? I can't leave here without him!" Clearly Will was still intent on completing whatever task had brought him to the island in the first place. As if on cue, Jack came running around the headland, pursued by a large crowd of the natives.  
"Never mind, let's go."  
Jack ran up to the side of the ship, grabbed one of the hanging ropes and turned to face his pursuers.  
"Alas, my children, this is the day you shall always remember as the day you almost…" He was cut off by a wave smashing into him from behind before he could finish. "…Captain Jack Sparrow."

As the ship sailed out into the shallow waters beyond the coast, the party were sat on the gun-deck. Sora was stood just out of the way; one of the communicator blocks in his hand."Alright. Well, follow as close as you can." He placed the block back into the pouch on his right leg, and went back to the group, when one of the crew came in.  
"Hey. Get yourselves up on deck. We're going ashore again."

The Black Pearl was anchored in an inlet, and a pair of the longboats headed upriver, into the jungle. In the second boat, Will was querying Jack's sudden change of character with everyone else.  
"So why is Jack afraid of the open sea then?"  
One of the crewmembers shifted slightly in his seat, his greying sideburns twitching slightly, before launching into a legend.  
"Well, if you believe in such things, there's a beast that does the bidding of Davy Jones. A fierce creature with giant tentacles that'll suction your face clean off and drag an entire ship down into the crushing darkness…the Kraken. The stench of his breath…Imagine the last thing you know on God's green earth is the roar of the Kraken and the reeking odor of a thousand rotting corpses…If you believe such things."  
Upon hearing this, it was quite clear that Jon and indeed a few other people were resisting the urge to vomit at this quite frankly disgusting description. He coughed once, and then settled down uncomfortably in his seat, the colour drained out of his face.

Eventually, the boats drew up outside a crudely constructed shack in a swamp. The party was instructed to watch the boats as everyone else went inside. They stayed in there for some time, perhaps an hour, maybe two. When they came out again, the group returned to the ship without a word, which then set sail once more, shadowed by the cloaked Gummi Ship.

In the distance, a wrecked ship could be seen in amongst the rocks. The ship had been broken across the middle and one of the masts had snapped. The Pearl was anchored some distance away, the constant heavy rain thudding onto the deck.  
"So that's the _Flying Dutchman_? She doesn't look like much." Will was sceptical.  
"Neither do you. Just remember the plan."  
As soon as Will boarded the longboat to row over to the hulk, Sora dropped down to join him.  
"Sora, what are you doing?"  
"Oh come on, did you really think I'd let you do something like this alone?"  
"Point taken."  
Behind him, the lights on the _Pearl_ went out one by one, leaving it almost completely invisible against the night.

On board the hulk, the pair found a number of shell-shocked sailors, some cowering under pieces of fallen structure, another constantly pulling the same rope, desperately trying to carry out the last order he had been given. A corpse floating in the water was found to have no face, it having been apparently sucked straight off, leaving only a pulsating mass of flat skin behind. Before they could find anyone else, a huge ship burst from the waves, and a group of strange people appeared aboard the hulk, along with a number of Heartless. Will drew his sword and Sora produced his Keyblade, and the two began to fight in an attempt to reach the boat again, before they were both clubbed across the back of the head and set up with the survivors.

*Thud*  
The sound came from the break in the ship.  
*Thud*  
It was the sound of someone stomping up the deck.  
Davy Jones, captain of the _Flying Dutchman_, had arrived.  
"How many survivors?" His accent was thick, but understandable.  
"Six. Some with… More fight in them than others."  
"Hmmm…" He looked at the sailor directly in front of him, who was shaking violently, either from cold, shock or both. He took out his pipe and lit it, using the tentacles of his beard. Understandable, considering one of his hands had been replaced with a crab-claw. "Tell me, do you fear death, hmm? Do you fear that dark abyss? All your deeds laid bare, all your sins punished? I can offer you…an escape."  
"Don't listen to him!" The shout came from the man on the end, holding a crucifix in his shaking hands.  
"Do you not fear death then?"  
"I'll take my chances."  
"Very well." He turned to the member of his crew stood to his left. "To the depths."  
The assembled crewmen took the man, slit his throat and tossed him overboard. Davy Jones then returned to surveying the line up, stopping when he got to Will and Sora.  
"You two are neither dying nor dead. What is your purpose here?"  
Will spoke up.  
"Jack Sparrow sent us… To settle his debt."  
"Hmmm… Did he now? I'm sorely tempted to take him up on that offer."

On board the Black Pearl, Jack was watching events unfold through his telescope, when Jones apparently spotted him, and looked straight at him, before suddenly appearing in front of him on the deck, as members of his crew stepped from the wood-work and took various members of the pirate crew on deck hostage.  
"You have a debt to pay. You've been captain of the _Black Pearl_ for thirteen years, as per our agreement."  
"Technically I was only captain for two years, before I was viciously mutinied against, so…" Jack was being as silver-tongued as ever.  
"So, you were a poor captain, but a captain none the less. For have you not always introduced yourself all theses years as _Captain_ Jack Sparrow?" This comment made all the _Dutchmen_ crew present laugh.  
"Well, you have your payment, a pair of souls to serve aboard your ship."  
"What?!" Kairi was genuinely shocked at this.  
"One soul is not equal to another."  
"Aha! So you agree my proposition is sound in principle, so now we're just haggling over a price."  
"Price?"  
"Just how much do you think my soul is worth?"  
"One Hundred Souls. Three Days."  
"Great. Just send back the boys and I'll get started right away."  
"I keep the pair. A good faith payment, if you will. That just leaves ninety-eight more. But I wonder, Sparrow. Can you live with this? Can you condemn a pair of innocent men, one of them a friend, to a lifetime of servitude in your name while you roam free?"  
"Yes. Yes I can. Shall we seal it in blood-I mean, err, ink?"  
Jones took Jack's wrist quite roughly, one of his tentacles searching for something. Eventually he released the hand.  
"Three days."  
Then he and his crew retreated. As soon as she was released, Kairi charged straight at Jack, and tried to attack him out of a saddened rage.  
"How? How could you do this?" Eventually, she collapsed to the deck sobbing weakly.  
"As much as it pains me to say this, my dear, your friend made a choice to get into that boat. He chose his own fate. Now then, Mister Gibbs?"  
"Aye?" The sailor with the greying sideburns came up to Jack. "How do you plan on collecting these ninety-eight souls in three days?"  
"Thankfully, he was mum as to the required condition of these souls."  
"Ah. Tortuga."  
"Tortuga. Set a course, and then take our guests below."

Tortuga was an incredibly squalid place. Sadly, it was also the only "free" port left in the Caribbean. That is to say, the only one not controlled by the East India Trading Company. Within the tavern of the "Faithful Bride", Jack and Gibbs had set about recruiting a crew. Fortunately or not, all they had been able to recruit so far had been dregs, so to speak. Except for one. An old foe, who started a brawl and got himself thrown in with the pigs for it. On the Docks, Jon, Kairi and Goofy were helping to load supplies. Goofy drew more than a few strange looks, but the lookers generally took another long swig from whatever bottle they happened to be carrying then moved on. Eventually, Jack and Gibbs returned, with the four people they had succeeded in recruiting, plus the man who had started the fight. And someone else, who came over as well.  
"Captain Sparrow!"  
"Come to join the crew, lad? Welcome aboard."  
"I'm here to find the man I love."  
"Flattered as I am, my one and only love is the sea."  
"Meaning William Turner, Captain Sparrow."  
Jack turned round, a look of surprise on his face.  
"Elizabeth." He turned to Gibbs. "Hide the Rum."  
Whatever discussion they were having, the group heard nothing else as they went back aboard with the supplies they were carrying, however the ship soon slid out of the port and out to sea, bound for parts unknown.

Aboard the _Dutchman_, Will and Sora were soon put to work with the rest of the crew; however they soon devised a plan to escape with what they came to get – the Key to the Dead Man's Chest. However, an incident whilst hauling a cannon into place revealed something startling: Will's father was also a member of the crew, who later sacrificed his freedom to save Will's. Now the pair intended to escape. One night, Will crept into Davy Jones' quarters, and retrieved the key from within his beard, nearly waking him in the process. Outside, Sora and his father were readying a longboat.  
"Now get yourself to land, both of you, and stay there. It was in my blood to die at sea, I have no wish for it to be your fate as well."  
"It's not a fate you had to choose for yourself either."  
"No, it wasn't. Now go."  
"They'll know you helped us."  
"What worse can they do to me?"  
"I promise you I shall not rest until I find a way to break his hold over you. I shall not abandon you."  
And with that the pair dropped the boat into the water and set off. Or so everyone thought. It fact they hitched a ride in the jaws that decorated the ship's bow, hoping that Jones would head for the chest upon realising the key was gone.

"Land, Ho!"  
This shout from the lookout post brought everyone up on deck, and sure enough, a lone island sat on the horizon.  
"Right. You lot, with me." Jack motioned at Jon, Kairi and Goofy, along with Elizabeth, the strange man and two others. Following a brief but awkward boat ride as the new pair discussed just how you pronounce "Kraken"; they pulled up onto the shore.  
"Everyone grab a spade. You two, watch the boat, and mind the tide." Jack indicated for the new pair to stay where they were whilst everyone else went off to dig.

The spot where they ended up digging, located using Jack's compass was a fair way up the beach, but still near the sea itself. Jack himself was sat in the sand cross legged, as everyone else dug through the sand. One of them hit something solid, before they all hauled an iron bound box to the surface. Inside was a collection of letters, a bouquet of dried flowers, and something else. A black chest, adorned with various engravings and patterns. A weak but rhythmic thumping could be heard inside. Like a heartbeat.  
"So you actually were telling the truth." The strange man was mildly shocked.  
"I do that a lot, and yet people are still surprised."  
"And with good reason." The familiar voice came from behind, making everyone turn round.  
"Will!"  
"Sora!"  
"How did you two get here anyway?"  
"Does it matter?"  
"Not really."  
Will approached the chest, knife drawn and key in hand.  
"Oi! What do you think you're doing?"  
"Fulfilling a promise. I'm going to kill Jones."  
Jack drew his sword and held it to Will's throat. Everyone else looked shocked.  
"If you do that, who's going to call off the Kraken from its hunt, hmm?"  
Will stood up, and made to hand Jack the key, but instead drew Elizabeth's sword.  
"I keep the promises I make Jack. I intend to free my father, and I intend to do it right now."  
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that either. So sorry." The strange man had his sword drawn.  
"Why not?"  
"My master desires the contents of that chest."  
"And who might that be?" Sora was just a bit angry now.  
"You don't need to know. All you do need to know is this. The Heartless have come."  
As if on cue, a crowd of Heartless of all shapes and sizes rose out of the beach. Everyone else who still had one drew their weapons.  
"Now if you'll excuse me…" The strange man went for the chest, but was blocked by Jack and Will's swords. The trio then proceeded to fight each other for the key, and then headed inland.  
"Great…" Sora was back to being sarcastic. On the beach, a number of the Dutchmen crew rose out of the water. Sora and the party began to fight their way after the trio, cutting down Shadows left and right. Meanwhile, the new pair grabbed the chest and headed into the jungle.

Eventually, the fighters made it back to the boat, but without the chest. As far as any of them knew, Jack had managed to sneak the heart into a jar of dirt that now lay on the bottom of the boat. Rowing for the _Pearl_ with as much speed as they could gather, they could only hope to make it there before the _Dutchman_ was upon them. But it was not to be, as the ghost ship burst from the waves directly off the port side of the ship, in a perfect position to broadside them, its guns sliding out.  
"Hard to Starboard! Get us out of here now!"  
Unfortunately they were unable to pull away before the _Dutchman_ opened fire. The cannonade tore holes in the stern and upper deck, before it dropped back, an almighty bang shaking the _Pearl_ from mast to keel, sending the jar falling from the railing to the deck, where it smashed. It was empty - there was no heart inside. Sora ducked under the stairway and pulled one of the blocks out of his pouch.  
"Riku, we've got trouble here. How soon can you get out here?"  
"If I run the ship flat out, ten minutes, tops."  
"OK. Just get here as fast as you can."  
"Everyone take arms! Load the guns!"

As if on cue, the tentacles of the Kraken rose up around the Pearl, and a large number of Heartless appeared on the deck.  
"FIRE!" Jack had disappeared, so Will took command. The cannon fire ripped into the tentacles of the Kraken, as it pulled crewmembers of the decks and off to their doom. However, even it could not ignore several hundred pounds of lead tearing into its flesh, and it withdrew into the depths, for the moment.  
"It'll be back; we need to get off the ship."  
"There are no boats left." All the remaining boats had been smashed by the attack. A lone keg rolled past one of the broken hulks, giving Will an idea.  
"Pull the grates; load the powder into the net in the hold."  
"We've only got half-a-dozen barrels of powder!"  
"Then load the rum!" This order caused a deathly silence to descend among the crew. Gibbs spoke up.  
"Well, get to it, then!" though the pain of saying this was obvious. Everyone, even the members of the party, was now throwing barrels onto the net in the hold on the bottom of the ship.

Out at sea in the last of the longboats, Jack realised something.

The Kraken resumed its assault as the net began to lift, this time driving its tentacles directly into the gun-deck. However, it also smashed the capstans just as the net reached a high enough point, leaving Will swinging from it trying to free himself. However, as Elizabeth tried to take the shot to ignite the barrels, one of the tentacles whipped through the cabin and caught her by the leg, causing her to drop the musket. She would have been pull out the back to her death had one of the crew not severed the tentacle with an axe. Suddenly, Heartless swarmed into the gun-deck to be met by the party, who desperately tried to fight them and the tentacles that were still crashing through. Up on deck Elizabeth made a made dash for the musket, which was now laying at the top of the stairs, when a boot landed on it. She looked up.

It was Jack, who picked up the gun and aimed it at the net, just as Will managed to free himself. One touch of the trigger ignited the flash-pan, sending a tiny lead ball spinning into the barrels, igniting them and blowing great chunks out of the tentacles.  
"So is it dead?"  
"No. It's angry."  
"So what do we do?"  
Jack came down the stairs.  
"Abandon ship. Into the longboat."

Below the deck, water was flooding into the hold.  
"Riku, where are you?"  
"Almost there. We're just coming in now."  
Overheard, the whirring of the Gummi Ship's engines could be heard. The Kraken smacked the ship, sending everyone to the floor. Sora grabbed Jon by the wrist, hauling him up.  
"On your feet. We are LEAVING!"

The group sprinted out of the ship's hold as tentacles smashed into the deck around them. Up ahead, the Gummi ship was flying low, ramp down. Around them, the Heartless were swarming all over the vessel and trying to slow them down, and dead bodies and bits of burning flesh littered the deck.  
"Come on, we've got to jump!"

They almost made it. Almost. Unfortunately Jon misjudged his jump and barely made it onto the ramp, where he began to slide off. Sora immediately leapt out and grabbed his wrist, but the water on the ramp and the added weight dragged the pair of them off the ramp and onto the deck below as the Kraken dragged the Pearl to the depths, over Kairi's screams of horror and sadness, and as Jack beagn to attack the mighty beast...

A/N: Wow. That was a long one, they seem to be getting longer each time. And a cliff-hanger too. No props if you can guess what I sporked that last bit from.


	6. Chapter 6

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.  
All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 6

Everything was a blur. He jumped, and fell short, before sliding off the ramp in spite of someone trying to catch him, who was pulled in as well. Someone screamed, and then a great sound of wood groaning filled the air, and finally the water crashed on top of him turning everything black.

The heat of the sun beat down on Jon's face as he woke up, and he could feel sand underneath him._  
Well, this is familiar…_  
He stood up, revealing an ocean of sand as far as the eye could see._  
I could have sworn I fell into something's mouth out at sea. Why aren't I dead?_  
Something large sat on the horizon a fair distance away, and Jon decided to head for it.

Sora was walking aimlessly through the same desert, before being confronted by a line of twelve people in black cloaks._  
Wait, that can't be… Can it?_  
This suspicion grew as the twelve stood aside and vanished, leaving a thirteenth. Sora knew exactly where this was going; a theory confirmed when the stranger dropped his hood…

Jon was also faced by a man in a black cloak. This man did not drop his hood, or even act in any sort of threatening manner. He merely delivered a monologue, appearing in front of him no matter which way Jon turned._  
You don't know it yet, do you? What your purpose is; where you came from; __how you came to be in the first place? I thought not. No matter. All will become clear eventually, if you are able to escape this place, which I doubt. You're too weak for that. You couldn't even make one little jump, and doomed another to the same fate. Can you live with that, the knowledge that you stole someone's life from them, separating them from everyone that cared about them, leaving them to exist in sorrow? I doubt that either. Consider what you have done, and what it means…_  
"Who are you?!"_  
All will become clear in time…_  
And then the man faded…

The cloaked man standing before Sora dropped his hood, revealing a very familiar face.  
Roxas.  
"Wait, what's happening?"  
Roxas stayed silent, and summoned his Keyblades, one white and blue, the other jet black. The Oblivion and the Oathkeeper.  
"Okay…" Sora swung his Keyblade out. The battle that followed was evenly matched, a flurry of parried blows and missed strikes. However, when Jon stumbled over the crest of a dune behind him, he could see nothing, only Sora fighting against the empty air.  
"Sora, what are you doing?"  
Hearing this caused Roxas to fade from Sora's vision, and he turned round.  
"Couldn't you see…? Never mind." This wasn't the first time that this had happened.  
"Whatever. Where do you think we are?"  
"No idea. I just hope someone finds us eventually. Or we find them. Here, take this." Sora passed Jon one of the communication blocks.  
"Did you try to reach anyone with it?"  
"Yeah, but no-one answered."  
"I hope there's a good reason for that…"

World: Port Royal

On the South China Sea there is an island. On that island is a city. The city of Singapore. Within that city, lies a building. Appearing old and decrepit, this particular structure is anything but, being the haunt of Pirate Lord Sao Feng. And yet, few know of it. Perhaps this is a good thing, what with the entirety of the East India Trading Company's military assets scouring the seven seas for pirates. The company controlled the Flying Dutchman, and with it, the Heartless. To fight this new foe, an even more dangerous one had to be resurrected: Captain Barbossa. But a problem remained: what about Jack and the others?

A lone canoe made its way through the twisting waterways of the harbour, the features of the single occupant hidden by the hat pulled over their eyes. They were singing something. As they stepped off the canoe on to the dock, they were confronted by a band of locals, who took up the last line of the song.  
"A dangerous song to be singing, for any that are ignorant of its meaning. Particularly a woman alone."  
The thudding of heavy boots on a stairway caught everyone's attention.  
"What makes you think she's alone?" It was Barbossa.  
"You protect her?"  
"And what makes you think I need protecting?" Elizabeth had a knife to the pirate's throat.  
"Your master's expecting us, and an unexpected death'd cast a slight pall on our meeting."  
However, the sound of soldiers overhead led everyone to duck for cover, before the local pirates led the pair into a hidden tunnel.

As the soldiers moved round the harbour, Riku and a group of crewmen from the Black Pearl came in under the water, using coconut skins as camouflage and bent reeds as snorkels. At a signal from above they began to cut through a grating that covered an entrance into the bathhouse's lower level, before climbing through carrying a number of bundles.

Having turned over all their weapons (Elizabeth concealing quite a few in some …strange places), the pair were admitted into Sao Feng's inner sanctum. Below, Riku and the other members of the infiltrating party lined up out of sight against a wall, observing what went on, before silently subduing the workers as it sounded like everything was going south, and fast, and it became more and more likely they would need Plan-B. They spread the bundles on the floor, revealing an assortment of weapons including swords, pistols and the odd small bomb. The bombs were attached to various pillars and the fuses linked, whilst two of the crew stood under the pair above holding two swords each. Then the cue came.  
"Sao Feng, I assure you our intentions are strictly honourable."  
At this cue, the pair below thrust the swords they were carrying through the slats in the floor, and up into the waiting hands.  
Then it all went wrong.  
At that moment a unit of marines breached the Bathhouse chamber and opened fire. One of the crewmembers lit the fuses, which blew out part of the floor just as the marines prepared to open fire on Elizabeth, Will, Barbossa and Feng, allowing them to escape into the streets. The party below headed out, weapons drawn, with Riku stopping briefly to pick up a cutlass, scabbard and all, from a dead marine to use instead of his Keyblade, since it would probably be more useful in a life-or-death situation like this.

The battle spilled out along the waterfront, punctuated by the destruction of a fire-works store taking a number of Marines and Naval officers with it, before everyone met up on the dock side.  
"You have the charts?"  
Will tossed the roll to Barbossa.  
"Better. A ship, and a crew."  
"What about Sao Feng?"  
"He'll cover our escape and meet us at Shipwreck Cove."  
And so, as the battle continued throughout Singapore, a lone ship snuck quietly out of the port and into the open sea.

In the desert, Jon finally reached what had been perched on the horizon the whole time. A ship, in the middle of the desert? Maybe the heat was getting to him. Placing his hand to the timber, he could feel it was real enough. Then it dawned on him. He fished the block out of his pocket.  
"Hey Sora, you there?"  
"Yeah. What's up?"  
"I found the _Pearl_. She's intact, bizarrely."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well, there's no sign it was ever pulled down. No break in the hull, nothing. It's like something lifted it out of the water and put it here, rather than pulled it under."  
"Ah. OK, I'm on my way over. Where is it?"  
"It's the only thing on the horizon."  
"Oh yeah."

On the sea, the ship was moving through an ice-field. Everyone seemed to be suffering from the cold, some worse than others. Crystals of ice clung to everything, at least one sailor was frozen stiff and another was numb enough to snap off his own tow, shocking himself and everyone around him. Will, Riku and another sailor were examining the charts, which seemed to consist of a set of disks mounted on the backing. Turning the disks aligned different pieces of text.  
"Nothing is set. These can't be as accurate as modern charts."  
"No, but they lead to more places."_  
Over the edge, over again.  
Sunrise sets, flash of green._  
"Do you care to interpret, Captain Barbossa?" Everyone was now stood by the rudder, where Barbossa was steering the ship.  
"Ever gazed upon the green flash, Master Gibbs?"  
"I reckon I seen my fair share. Happens on rare occasion. The last glimpse of sunset, a green flash shoots up into the sky. Some go their whole lives without ever seeing it, some claim to have seen it who ain't. And some say…" He was cut off by one of the crew.  
"It signals when a soul comes back to this world from the dead!" That remark got him several scything looks from the rest. "Sorry."  
"Trust me, young Master Turner. It's not getting to the land of the dead that's the problem." Barbossa hauled the rudder to the right. "It's getting back."  
Slowly, the ship began to enter an Ice cave, which blotted out what little light remained.

Later, after nightfall, Riku was sat by the bow of the ship, watching the stars, and noticed one go out. Another world lost to the Heartless. They had to get Sora back, and soon.  
"The darkness still dwells within your heart, doesn't it?" The voice came from behind. It was Tia Dalma, the mysterious shaman who had guided them in their quest to recover those they had lost to the depths. Everything she said was layered with a supernatural insight.  
"Maybe. But the darkness is my own. For now, I control it, not the other way round."  
"Be wary though. For the time will come again when you must face your darkness once more."  
At that moment, Will sprinted to the back of the ship, and Riku followed him.  
"Barbossa, ahead!"  
"Aye, we're good and lost now."  
"Lost?" Elizabeth was surprised.  
"For certain you have to be lost to find a place as can't be found, elseways everyone would know where it was."  
Gibbs looked at the water below.  
"We're gaining speed!"  
"Aye."  
"To stations! All hands to stations!" Will ordered. Everyone immediately dropped what they were doing and ran to station. Riku sprinted for the bow, along with everyone without a set station. Up ahead, the ocean seemed to drop away. Will began issuing orders.  
"Rudder full, hard aport. Gather way!"  
"Nay, Belay that!" Barbossa re-asserted control. "Let 'er run straight and true!"  
Elizabeth turned round.  
"You've doomed us all."  
"Don't be so unkind. You may not survive to pass this way again, and these be the last friendly worlds you'll hear."  
Will noticed the drop getting closer.  
"Tie her off." He told one of the crew as he ducked under the rope he was holding, and ran to shift the rudder, turning the ship to the left. "Hold on!"  
Riku grabbed one of the ropes, and wound it round his wrist several times. In spite of everything the crew had done, the ship edged over the waterfall, before plunging stern first into the abyss.

In the desert of Davy Jones' Locker, Jon noticed the _Pearl_'s sails unfurling as if the ship were underway. Except there was no-one there to be doing it. He saw Jack, up on the deck, draw his sword and stab at nothing, before grabbing a hanging rope and swinging down to ground level. He then seemed to be talking to himself. Jon took advantage of this and climbed up the slats on the side and onto the deck, where Sora joined him, having been searching the desert for other things.  
"So what's happening?"  
"I think Jack may be madder than we thought."  
This suspicion was confirmed when Jack tried pulling the _Pearl_ himself. And then the ship started to move…

The rescue crew washed up on a beach, dragging various bits of flotsam and jetsam with them.  
"This truly is a godforsaken place." Gibbs was getting straight to the point.  
"I don't see Jack. I don't see anyone." Elizabeth was right. The desolation stretched as far as they could see, the only features being a line of sand-dunes directly ahead.  
"He's here. Davy Jones never gave up that what he took." Barbossa dispelled some concern with this, only to flare up more.  
"And does it matter? We're trapped here by your doing, no different than Jack." Will rebuked him, before everyone noticed the sails climbing over the dune…

The _Pearl_ crashed over the top of the dunes and slipped into the water, carried along by a large number of rock crabs.  
"Slap me thrice and hand me to me mama. It's Jack!" Gibbs was mildly surprised. But then no-one expected to see him again.  
Jack, Sora and Jon came ashore in a longboat. As the crew of the _Pearl_ greeted their captain, Sora was more concerned with the person that brought them there. He drew his Keyblade and levelled it at Barbossa's chest.  
"You! You brought the Heartless here again."  
"No, not this time."  
"Now why do I have problems believing that?"  
"It's OK, Sora. Put it down." Riku stepped from the crowd and tried to calm Sora down.  
Sora took a few deep breaths, venting his anger.  
"Right. First priority is getting out of here."

The _Pearl_ sailed in no particular direction for a while, after a brief argument between Jack and Barbossa over just who commanded the vessel. After nightfall, Jon was down on the Gun-deck with his earphones in. He could just hear some shouting above, but ignored it for a while, before popping the phones out and heading up on to the main deck. The night sky above was cloudless, but no stars could be seen, and there was only the slightest breeze to propel the ship. Sora was leaning on the railing, watching a group of lantern-lit boats slide past.  
"Hey. Can I ask you something?"  
"You just did, but whatever. What's up?"  
"If you had known about all this being possible, would you still have tried to save me?"  
"Maybe. To be honest I didn't think things would turn out this way."  
"So what's the deal with you and Barbossa?"  
"Last time I came here, he had control of the Heartless. At least until Jack shot him. Although it would seem he doesn't any more."

Jack was trying to make some sense of the chart.  
"_Up is down_. Well that's just maddeningly unhelpful. Why are these things never clear?"  
However a little internal monologue made him realise the solution.  
"It's not sunset, it's sundown." He turned the central wheel on the charts. "And rise… Up! What's that?" He ran up to and looked over the railing to one side, then the other, as if he'd spotted something. As everyone on deck began following to try to work out what he was looking at, the ship began to rock quite severely.  
"He's on to it… Time it with the swell!" Barbossa realised what Jack was trying to do. He headed on to the gun-deck.  
"Loose the cannons, you lazy bilge rats! Unstow the cargo, let it shift!" He ordered, taking a boarding axe to the rope holding a number of the powder kegs in place. The crew on the deck unhooked or cut loose the cannons, allowing them to roll with the motion of the ship. Eventually the ship began to tip over completely.  
"Now up… is down."

Beyond the keel of the capsized ship, the sun slid gently below the horizon, with a green flash. Then the water crashed over the _Pearl_ as it rose out of the depths, back into the real world. However, as soon as everyone got their bearings, Jack, Will, Elizabeth and Barbossa all drew pistols on each other. Realising everything could go south very fast, Jon, Sora and Riku all drew weapons as well._  
Great... The world's going to hell and they're having a Mexican Standoff._  
"The Brethren Court is a-gathering at Shipwreck Cove. And Jack, you and I are a-going. There'll be no arguing that point."  
"I is arguing the point. If there's Pirates a-gathering I'm pointing my ship the other way."  
"The Pirates are gathering to fight Beckett, and you're a pirate." Elizabeth tried to make Jack see reason.  
"Fight or not, you're not running, Jack." Will was in agreement.  
"If we don't stand together they'll hunt us down one by one, till there be none left but you."  
"Quite like the sound of that. Captain Jack Sparrow, the last pirate."  
"Aye. And you'll be fighting ones alone. How does that figure into your plan?"  
"I'm still working on that. But I will not be going back to the Locker, mate. Count on that." Jack pulled the trigger, but his gun clicked harmlessly. As did everyone else's. Gibbs sighed.  
"Wet Powder."

The crew went ashore to re-supply. But everyone's attention was on the corpse on the beach. It was massive, stretching from the tree line to the edge of the water, and had apparently been there for quite some time. It was the Kraken. Jack looked into its eye and began to question his own mortality.  
"Still thinking of running, Jack? Think you can outrun the world? You know, the problem with being the last of anything, by and by there be none left at all."  
"Sometimes, things come back mate. We're living proof, you and me."  
"Aye, but that's a gamble of long odds, ain't it? There's never a guarantee of coming back. But passing on, that's dead certain."  
"Summoning the Brethren Court, then, is it?"  
"It's our only hope, lad."  
"That's a sad commentary in and of itself."  
"The world used to be a bigger place."  
"The world's still the same. There's just less in it."  
Eventually the landing party came upon the spring they came to find. There was a corpse floating in it. Barbossa tasted the water, and then spat it out quickly.  
"It's been poisoned. Fouled by the body"  
The body itself seemed to be one of the Chinese pirates, with a spike driven through the roof of his mouth and into the brain. However, a shouted signal from the shore alerted the party to the presence of another ship. It was also Chinese, by the looks of things, and no sooner was it visible, all of the mercenary crewmen drew pistols on everyone else.

By the time they were brought back to the _Pearl_, it was in the hands of their new assailants. And at their lead…  
"Sao Feng… You showing up here, it is truly a remarkable co-incidence."  
Sao Feng walked past Barbossa.  
"Jack Sparrow… You paid me great insult once."  
"That doesn't sound like me."  
Sao Feng's response to this was to punch Jack square in the face.  
"Shall we just call it square then?"  
Will stepped from the crowd.  
"Release her. She's not part of the bargain."  
"And what bargain would be that?"  
"You heard Captain Turner. Release her."  
"Captain Turner?" Jack was surprised at this little revelation.  
"Aye, the perfidious rotter led a mutiny against us!" Gibbs' voice was dripping with venom.  
"I need the _Pearl_ to free my father. It's the only reason I came on this voyage."  
"Why didn't you tell me you were planning this?" Elizabeth was shocked.  
"It was my burden to bear."  
"He needs the _Pearl_. Captain Turner needs the _Pearl_." Jack indicated Elizabeth. "You felt guilty." Then Barbossa "And you and your Brethren Court." He then looked at Riku. "What about you?"  
"I had my own reasons." He motioned at Sora.  
"I see. Did no-one come to save me just because they missed me?"  
A few crew members raised their hands.  
"Right. I'm standing with them."  
Or he would be, had Sao Feng not grabbed him by the shoulder.  
"I'm sorry Jack. But there is an old friend who wants to see you first."  
"I'm not certain I can survive any more visits from old friends."  
"Here is your chance to find out."  
Out in the distance, the _Endeavour_ could be seen, white sails blazing.

Once the _Endeavour_ drew alongside, several boatloads of Marines crossed over.  
"My men are crew enough." Sao Feng met with the leader of the boarding party.  
"Company Ship, Company Crew."  
Will was livid.  
"You agreed. The _Black Pearl_ was to be mine."  
"And so it was." Then one of the Chinese pirates gut-punched him and dragged him away.

Once Will and Elizabeth were restrained, Sao Feng confronted Mercer, Beckett's "representative", again.  
"Beckett agreed the _Black Pearl_ was to be mine."  
"Lord Beckett's not going to give up the only ship as can outrun the _Dutchman_, is he?" Mercer stormed off.  
"Shame they're not bound to honour the code of the Brethren, isn't it? Because honour's a hard thing to come by nowadays." Barbossa was unsurprised.  
"There is no honour to remaining with the losing side. Leaving it for the winning side, that's just good business."  
"The loosing side, you say?"  
"They have the _Dutchman_. Now the _Pearl_. And what do the Brethren have?"  
"We have Calypso."  
Sao Feng gave Elizabeth a strange look, before laughing softly.  
"Calypso. An old legend."  
"No. The goddess herself, bound in human form. Imagine; all the power of the seas brought to bear against our enemy. I intend to release her, but for that I need the Brethren Court." He lifted a small trinket tied round Sao Feng's neck. "All the court."

"What are you proposing, Captain?"  
"What be ye accepting, Cap'n?"  
"The Girl."

"What?" Elizabeth was not expecting to be used as a bargaining chip.  
"Elizabeth is not part of any bargain." Will wasn't going to allow it either.  
"Out of the question." Barbossa tried to force the issue.  
"It was not a question."  
"Done." Elizabeth tried to play the pragmatist.  
"What? Not done."  
"You got us into this, if this is what frees us, then done!"  
"Elizabeth, they are pirates."  
"I've had more than enough experience dealing with pirates!"  
"Then we have an accord?"

The first shot tore through the stern of the _Endeavour_, and subsequent shots smashed into the various gun decks and the quarterdeck, sending splinters scything into members of the crew. On the _Pearl_, the crewmembers began to fight off the marines and take back control. Sora struck one across the back of the head with his Keyblade and tossed him over the side. Riku was still using the cutlass he lifted from the dead marine in Singapore, and was holding his own quite well. Jon slashed one man across the chest with the Beam Sword, the thunder magic in the blade sending a wave of electricity across his body that shorted out every nerve briefly, rendering him unconscious. However, they were interrupted by Jack using a cannon shot to fling himself between the two ships.  
"And that was without even a single drop of rum." He walked over to Will. "Send this pestilent, traitorous, cowhearted, yeasty codpiece to the brig."

Shipwreck Island was deeply forested and heavily mountainous, and apparently incredibly treacherous to reach by sea. Somewhere on it lays Shipwreck Cove, and within that the town of Shipwreck. Pirates really are an unimaginative lot when it comes to names. The town itself was built from the hulks of a number of destroyed ships, and featured an unknown number of places to engage in seedy dealings. In particular, the chamber of the Brethren Court. Barbossa smacked the table with a chain shot ball several times to call for quiet. The place was eerie in the light from the huge number of candles jammed onto an anchor hung from the ceiling.  
"As he who issued summons, I now convene this, the fourth Brethren Court. To confirm your lordship and right to be heard, present now your pieces of eight, me fellow cap'ns."  
Jon watched as the seated members produced various items which were added to a collection plate, as one of the _Pearl_'s crew mused with Gibbs about the nature of the items, being, as they put it "pieces of junk" rather than pieces of eight. Jack, however, did not surrender his item.  
"Might I point out that we are still short one pirate lord, and I'm as content as a cucumber to wait until Sao Feng joins us…" He was cut off by a voice from behind.  
"Sao Feng is dead." It was Elizabeth. "He fell to the _Flying Dutchman_." This revelation caused a major stir. She took out her sword and stabbed it into the globe at the end of the table.  
"He made you captain? They're just giving the bloody title away now." Jack was shocked.  
"Listen. Out location has been betrayed. Jones is under the command of Lord Beckett, and they're on their way here."  
"Who is this betrayer?" came the shout from one of the lords.  
"Not likely anyone among us." Barbossa attempted to quell whatever panic there may have been.  
"Where's Will?" Elizabeth noticed the conspicuous absence.  
"Not among us." Jack preferred to state the obvious.  
"It matters not how they found us, the question is what will we do now they have?"  
"We fight." Elizabeth preferred to get straight to the point. The notion drew laughs from the council, who preferred the idea of staying behind the defences in a well supplied fortress.  
"There be a third course. In another age, at this very spot, the first Brethren Court captured the sea goddess and bound her in her bones. That was a mistake. Oh, we tamed the seas for ourselves, aye, but opened the door to Beckett, and his ilk. Better were the days when mastery of the seas came not from bargains struck with eldritch creatures, but from the sweat of a man's brow and the strength of his back alone. You all know this to be true. Gentlemen, Ladies. We must free Calypso."  
This remark caused not so much a stir as a brawl.

If anyone had been paying attention to the shadows, they might haven noticed a pair of golden yellow eyes peering out, only to suddenly vanish. Someone did. Jon noticed the beady eyes glaring from the shadows, and the familiar shape moving across the floor, and decided to follow it.

Barbossa climbed onto the table and fired a single shot to break up the chaos.  
"It was the first court what imprisoned Calypso. We should be the ones to set her free, and in her gratitude she will see fit to grant us boons."  
"Who's boons? Your Boons?" Jack was quizzical as ever. "Utterly deceptive twaddle-speak, says I."  
"If you have a better alternative, please, share."  
"Cuttlefish." Jack seemed to be going off on a tangent. "Aye. Let us not, dear friends, forget our dear friends, the cuttlefish. Flipping glorious little sausages. Pen them up together; they'll devour each other without a second thought. Human nature, isn't it… or rather… fish nature. So yes, we could hole up here, well provisioned and well armed and half of us would be dead within the month; which seems quite grim to me whichever way you slice it. Or, as my learned colleague naively suggests, we can release Calypso, and we can pray that she will be merciful. I rather doubt it. Can we pretend that she is anything other than a woman scorned, like which fury hell hath no? We cannot. _Res ipsa loquitur, tabula in naufragio._ We are left with but one option. I agree with, and I cannot believe the words are coming out of me mouth…" he hesitated. "…Captain Swann. We must fight."  
"You've always run away from a fight."  
"Have not."  
"Have so."  
The subsequent argument turned into what was effectively a game of verbal tennis for a few moments.  
"I have only ever embraced that oldest and noblest of pirate traditions. I submit now that is what we all must do: We must fight… To run away."  
This drew shouts of support from almost all those assembled.  
"As per the code, an act of war, and this be exactly that, can only be declared by the pirate king."  
"You made that up."  
"Did I now? I call upon Cap'n Teague, keeper of the code!"  
Hearing this made the colour drain from Jack's face. One member of the assembled made the mistake of trying to disregard the code, to be met with a shot to the chest. A figure in the doorway blew the smoke off his pistol.  
"The code is the law."  
Captain Teague approached the table, followed by two others carrying a large book. The _Pirata Codex_. He examined a page briefly, before looking up.  
"Barbossa is right."  
"Hang on a minute." Jack was looking for a way to talk his way out, as usual. He examined the page for a second, and then stepped back.  
"There has not been a king since the first court. And that's not likely to change."  
"Why not?"  
"See, the pirate king is elected by popular vote..." Gibbs began, but was cut off by Barbossa.  
"…And each pirate only ever votes for hisself."  
"I call for a vote." Jack seemed desperate to pursue his course. There followed a brief exchange whereby all but one of the captains name-checked themselves to indicate their voting. All except Jack, who elected to buck tradition, and voted for Elizabeth, causing a stir among the council.  
"Am I to understand that you lot will not be keeping to the code, then?"  
At the back, Teague snapped a guitar sting. This had the effect of silencing everyone.  
"Very well. What say you, Captain Swann, king of the Brethren Court?"  
"Prepare every vessel that floats. At dawn… we're at war."

Jon tracked the lone Shadow through the twisting and labyrinthine streets of Shipwreck, before a number of them materialised on the street. He immediately grabbed the communicator block from his pocket, along with the Beam Sword off of his belt.  
"Sora, we've got trouble."  
"What?"  
"The Heartless have arrived."  
"Great… Where are you?"  
"I have no idea."  
"Right. Well, try to make it back to the council chamber; we need to head out soon."  
"Gotcha. There doesn't seem to be that many for the moment."

The Heartless waylaid the crew as they attempted to return to the _Pearl_. The sudden appearance of the strange creatures on the street seemed to be perfectly normal to most of the pirates out there, although to be fair most of them were drunk. Everyone who knew what was happening drew their weapons, and proceeded to fight their way down to the docks, the black smoke of fallen Shadows trailing behind them.  
"This is "not that many?"" Sora smashed another Shadow into the dust with his Keyblade, the black smoke clinging to form briefly before dispersing, a single heart shaped crystal vanishing into the ether above it.  
"Alright, I messed up. Get over it. And there were only ten before, at least from what I could see." Jon stuck the Beam Sword into one, swinging it round until it was launched into a pack of them. He could swear it made the sound of a bowling ball hitting the pins when it landed.  
"Whatever."

Early the next morning, the ships in the fleet of the Brethren Court lined up just off the coast of Shipwreck Island. A thick fog clung to the sea like a blanket, and as a result it was impossible to see from one end of the line to the other. A lone ship appeared out of the fog, followed by several others. It was an Armada, bigger than their own and more powerful. Everyone turned to Jack with a menacing look; this had been his idea.  
"Parley?" He was hesitant.

The sandbar sat on the water between the two fleets. Perfectly neutral ground. The two parties met for the last negotiation before the fight or surrender. Most likely the former. On one side, Jack, Elizabeth and Barbossa. On the other, Will, Jones and someone Jon didn't recognise. That was mostly likely Lord Beckett, the villain of this particular tale. Jon himself was crouched by the bowsprit, binoculars in hand, watching the whole affair, but unable to determine what was being said. Something happened, which led to Barbossa cutting the beads off of Jack's bandana, and then he and Will switched places. Jon then ducked back inside the forecastle and returned to the quarterdeck, where everyone else had gathered.

The longboat returned."We'll need to use the _Black Pearl_ as a flagship to lead the attack." Elizabeth was planning their next move. Or so she thought.  
"Oh will we now?" Barbossa had plans of his own.  
Tia Dalma, bound in a large number of ropes, was being brought up from the brig.  
"Barbossa, you can't release her." This statement from Will got several pistols cocked and pointed at him.  
"We need to give Jack a chance." Elizabeth was defiant.  
"Apologies, your majesty. Too long my fate has not been in me own hands." He pulled the charm from around Elizabeth's neck. "No longer."  
The charm and Jack's beads were dropped into the plate with the other items.  
"Be there some manner of rite or incantation?" Gibbs inquired as to the nature of what was about to happen.  
"Aye. The items brought together, done. Items to be burned…" Gibbs poured the contents of his flask over the plate, as Barbossa took a slowmatch from one of the gunnery crews, "and someone must speak the words: "Calypso, I release you from your human bonds"."  
"Is that it?"  
"'tis said it must be spoken as if to a lover." He then hefted the slowmatch, and with palpable melodrama recited the incantation, before touching it against the items in the plate. Nothing happened.  
"Is that it?"  
"No, no, no, he didn't say it right." The sailor was hesitant. "You have to say it right." He then leant in close to her ear and recited it in a soft whisper. The effect was instantaneous, as the items suddenly caught fire and the plate itself seemed to hover. The smoke flooded up her nose and her eyes could be seen rolling back until only the white could be seen. Will wrestled himself free.  
"Tia Dalma! Calypso. When the Brethren Court imprisoned you, who was it that told them how? Who was it that betrayed you?"  
"Name him."  
"Davy Jones."  
Calypso's rage at this was obvious and immediate in its effect. She grew to the height of the main mast, straining against the ropes.  
"Calypso!" Barbossa came before her and knelt to the deck. Everyone else followed suit. "I come before you as but a servant, humble and contrite. I have fulfilled me vow and now ask your favour. Spare me self, me ship, me crew… But unleash your fury upon those who would dare pretend themselves your masters… or mine."

The result seemed to be half indistinct incantation, half curse, all in a language Jon did not recognise, before Calypso dissolved into thousands of crabs who swamped the deck and ran into the sea.  
"Is that it?"  
"What now?"  
"Nothing." Barbossa was resigned to fate. "Our final hope has failed us."  
"It's not over." Elizabeth wanted to see it through to the end.  
"There's still a fight to be had."  
"We've an armada against us, and with the _Dutchman_ there's no chance."  
"There's only a fool's chance."  
"Revenge won't bring your father back, Miss Swann. And it's not something I'm intending to die for."  
"You're right. Then what shall we die for? Now you will listen to me. Listen! The Brethren will still be looking here, to us, to the _Black Pearl_ to lead. And what will they see? Frightened bilge rats aboard a derelict ship? No. No, they will see free men! And freedom! And what the enemy will see is the flash of our cannons. They will hear the ring of our swords, and they will know what we can do! By the sweat of our brows, and the strength of our backs…and the courage of our hearts! Gentlemen! Hoist the colours."  
"Hoist the colours." The sentiment ran through the crew, and the rest of the fleet.  
"The wind's on our side, boys. That's all we need!" Gibbs had found his optimism again.  
Soon, the banners of every pirate captain present flew from the masts of the armada.

And then the rain started. Right from the beginning it was heavy, and familiar to some. For Jon, this was almost exactly how the last hours of his home world began. The _Pearl_ and the _Dutchman_ sailed directly for each other, and something began to grow in the water ahead.  
"Maelstrom!!!" Gibbs shouted above the thunder. Elizabeth turned to see Barbossa musing vacantly over something.  
"Captain Barbossa! We need you at the helm!"  
"Aye. That be true." He said, taking the wheel. Meanwhile the _Dutchman_ cut right across the swirling abyss and began to close on the _Pearl_.  
"She's on our stern, and gaining."  
Then the bow gun-ports opened. The first volley smashed into the forecastle and threw at least one sailor off into the swirling void.  
"Prepare to broadside!" The order came from the upper deck, and everyone manning a gun scrambled to get it loaded and aimed.  
"Hold there! Wait 'till we're board and board!" Gibbs was in command of the gun crews, before the order to fire came down from the top. The exchanged broadsides smashed into the hull of both ships, sending bits of shrapnel flying into those in the path.  
"Prepare to board!" Everyone who was supposed to grabbed a loose rope.

Then the Heartless arrived on the deck of the _Pearl_. These were different, but still the same. They seemed like Soldiers, but with barnacles and bits of sea creature in odd places, like the crew of the _Dutchman_. Jon ducked under a swing from one, and then drove his sword into it, causing it to explode into that familiar cloud of smoke. Behind him, Riku was using both his Keyblade and the cutlass he'd lifted together, and was doing very well with them. Then there was an almighty crash as the masts of the two ships locked together. Running up onto deck, the trio swung across to join the boarding crew on the _Dutchman_, along with Will, who was intent on fulfilling the promise he'd made. Will grabbed the Chest from the deck, but knew he couldn't open it without the key.  
"Sora! Help me with this!"  
Sora tapped the chest with his Keyblade, but the lock didn't open.  
"Why isn't it working?"  
Then someone punched Will in the face, knocking him to the floor and sending the chest sliding away. Into the path of one of the Heartless…

Across the deck, Davy Jones stopped, clutched his chest briefly, and then dropped to his knees. His eyes turned from ice blue to a familiar shade of golden-yellow, and a purple aura began to surround him, covering his entire body until he could not be seen beyond the writhing ink-blue mass. What emerged looked like a hybrid of a Shadow and Jones' prior form. He strode along the deck, making for the group as the battle raged around him. He paused to casually toss the occasional crewman or marine from his path, before facing down his opponents on a cleared quarterdeck.

Everyone drew their weapons, and charged. Jones' Heartless formed a pair of blades from his arms, and the fight began. Jack dropped to the deck from up in the mast and joined in. Blow after blow struck the Heartless creature, but it would not fall. Blows of steel, thunder and light would not cause the creature to falter, nor weaken its own blows. Until Will drove his sword through where its heart should have been, which caused the creature to drop to the floor, convulsing wildly, before vanishing in another cloud of black smoke. However, at the same time, something tore out his own heart, causing it to replace Jones' in the chest, and the ship began to list severely. His father knew what had happened.  
"The _Dutchman_ must have a captain."  
"Either way, we need to get off the ship. It's dragging the _Pearl_ down with it." Jack was desperate to get going. As soon as the four crossed back over, a single chain-shot fired directly at the locked masts freed the _Pearl_, allowing it to break out of the maelstrom and into calm waters.  
"So what about the _Endeavour_?"  
As if to answer this question, the Dutchman broke the surface, bits falling from it as it resumed its original appearance. Will was at the helm. The two ships turned  
alongside each other, as the _Endeavour_ sailed between them.  
"Fire!"  
The combined barrage tore the ship apart, before finally destroying it as the magazine in the bowels of the ship caught alight, the stock of powder exploding; taking what remained of the ship and its crew with it. If Beckett hadn't been killed by the barrage of fire, then the explosion would certainly finish him.

Back in Shipwreck, Sora went in search of the keyhole, guided as before by his Keyblade. The keyhole itself was to be found in the court chamber, on the stand for the globe at the rear. With the hole locked, the trio went to board the Gummi Ship at the docks, before returning to their journey…

A/N: Well, there's another long one. Just shy of 8000 words! Next chapter _should_ be a bit shorter and more of a breather after this… (13000 words for one world; Oh dear.)


	7. Chapter 7

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.  
All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders, be it Square, Disney or whoever.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 7

World: Olympus Coliseum

The stadium was an imposing building that dominated the surrounding landscape. It was a huge sandstone construction that seemed to blend with the arid surroundings while still being distinct. Inside the arena, a lone brown haired kid was whacking barrels with a glowing sword. He smashed the last pair together just as a bell sounded. His time was up.

Jon stepped into the lobby area, using his jumper to dry the sweat out of his hair after he'd discarded it on a bench. Sora and Riku were waiting for him.  
"So how'd you do?"  
"I made it in, just. Got the last two right as the time ran out."  
"Cool. So where does that put us?"  
"Here, here and here." Riku pointed out three spots on the tournament board.

Sora entered the arena for his first match. In the stands he could see Kairi, Donald and Goofy, along with a huge number of non-descript spectators. He raised his Keyblade to a cheer from the crowd, and waited for his opponent. He was not waiting long. A crowd of Shadow Heartless reared up from the ground and waited. A nice easy match to start off with.

Up in one corner of the stands, a lone man in a black hooded cloak was watching…

Sora drove the last Shadow into the floor of the arena, before it vanished in the same cloud of black smoke as before. The crowd cheered again, and he retired to the lobby to prepare for his next match.

Jon was next. His fight was considerably more difficult; A brace of Air-soldiers. He stood, waiting for them to make the first move. One of them did, swooping at him. He pulled the Beam Sword from his belt, rolled under it and ignited the blade, driving it straight through and making it explode in the usual way. The next preferred to try dive bombing him, so he jumped up, but fell short, his blade connecting with a wing for a brief second and sending the heartless spinning to the floor. He then drove the blade into it, and it too dissolved. The third then sped in and took out his legs, to the amusement of the crowd, and he lashed out, catching it on the side of the head briefly. It slunk over into a corner, long enough for Jon to get back on his feet and chase it. The last one smacked straight into his back and began to claw at him, one slash catching his arm and sending a shock of pain up it, as more than one member of the crowd gasped, before he rolled over and crushed it into the dirt, following through with a slice from his sword, and limping off to the cheers of the crowd.

"Impressive. His skill has improved greatly." The strange man was now joined by another, similarly garbed.  
"He may nearly be ready…"  
"Does he know?"  
"I do not believe so. I've been tracking him since they left the castle, and He seems totally unaware."

Jon returned to the lobby, blood flowing slowly from where the Air-Solider had slashed his arm.  
"So how bad was it?"  
"Bad enough to make me watch my back in future. Those claws don't half sting."  
"Here. Drink this." Sora tossed him a blue bottle. It contained a green liquid that seemed cold as Jon swallowed it, but it seemed to help the pain. In fact, it actually closed the wound to the point where it seemed like it had never been there in the first place. Jon wiped the rest of the blood off with his hand.  
"Thanks."  
He watched Riku walk into the arena, and saw the trio of Bandits. He heard the reactions of the crowd and guessed it was going his way.

And then someone screamed…

The trio ran up into the arena to be faced with a truly colossal Heartless. It seemed like a human figure, but there was a noticeable gap in its chest, in the shape of a heart.  
"Darkside." Sora knew what it was.  
"Great. What do we do about it?"  
"We fight it." Everyone drew weapons.

The Darkside made the first move, delivering a hammer blow to the ground right where the party had been stood just a few moments ago. However, the shockwave knocked everyone off their feet. Jon leapt up and stabbed his sword into the gargantuan hand, but the creature simply swung him away up into the stands. Sora got up onto its back and drove his Keyblade into the back of its neck, but it simply shrugged him off. Riku slashed the back of the creature's legs several times, bringing it to its knees, and the pair laid into it with slash after slash, each strike removing more and more shadow from it.

Jon sat up, shaking a few bits of masonry from his hair. A huge wave of pain ran up one arm, and he could barely move it without making the pain worse. Chances were he'd broken it being flung up there.  
"Hey!" He knew that voice, but the pain was making it hard to concentrate. His vision seemed to be fading again as the shock took hold.  
"Hey. Stay with me now. Come on!" Jon looked up, and through the black spots swirling around he could see three figures above. One of them whispered something under their breath and a familiar sensation ran up his arm, setting the bone back together and repairing whatever damage the ends had done scraping around inside. His vision cleared up and he could finally see what had happened. Kairi was crouched beside him, with both Donald and Goofy a bit further away.  
"What happened?"  
"That Heartless threw you up here. Bust your arm up pretty badly."  
"Right. Thanks for that." Jon picked up the Beam Sword, which lay inactive where he had smashed into the stone seats. "Here goes nothing…"

Sora ducked under a swipe from the Darkside, before laying into its hand. The creature was clearly being weakened, as its movements had slowed and it seemed less strong than it had been before. However, he managed to miss the arm coming up behind him, which smacked him into the edge of the arena floor. The Darkside came up to him and raised its clawed hand to strike at his heart.

Then Jon came out of nowhere, jumping up onto the Darkside's back and driving his sword repeatedly into its neck. Riku then joined in, shoulder charging the Darkside and knocking it off its feet. Sora was then able to stand up and deliver the final blow, making the giant heartless slump limply to the floor and then explode in the same way as always. Jon stood up.  
"Well, that went well."

The black hooded man simply watched as all this unfolded, before turning to leave.

Out in the courtyard, everyone was preparing to leave. Sora had sealed the Keyhole again, which was in the same place as last time, behind a stone pedestal in the lobby.  
Then one of the black cloaked men swooped from nowhere, grabbing Jon by his neck and coming to a halt in front of the group.  
"_It is time for this one to face his destiny. We would appreciate it if you stayed out of our way."_  
"No. You won't take him. We won't let you." Everyone drew their weapons.  
"_The time when you had a choice in the matter has long since passed; there is nothing you can do to prevent this."_  
"Just go, everything will be OK." Jon tried to reassure the rest of the group, but before they could do anything a dark portal swallowed the pair.

A/N: Well, back to a more manageable length, and another altered video game rip. Who knows where this will go from here? I certainly don't…


	8. Chapter 8

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.

All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders, be it Square, Disney or whoever.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 8

World: Radiant Garden

"OK. Go back to the beginning. How did you lose him?" Leon was trying to make sense of what happened.  
"Someone in a black robe came out of nowhere and snatched him. He said something about it being time for him to "face his destiny"."  
"Hmmm… Did you give him one of Cid's communicators?"  
"Yeah. Why?"  
"Follow me."

Cid's computer terminal in Merlin's house had been adapted into a form of communications hub. He'd issued the blocks to all the members of the committee, in the event of another major incursion. The upshot was that he could also track any of the blocks to any world. A small red blip pulsed gently in a very familiar place.  
"That's…"  
"The World That Never Was…"

World: The World That Never Was

The City was in ruins after the final confrontation between Sora and the Organisation. However, a few buildings, mostly on the outskirts, still remained largely intact. Beneath them, a web of catacombs stretched from the remains of the castle all the way to the edge of the city. Inside those tunnels, a large number of rooms were re-purposed by members of the Organisation for a variety of uses. One of these had been turned into a laboratory, and it was in this room that Jon found himself, fastened to a table and bound in chains of ice. One of the hooded men had joined the one who had brought him to this place.  
"_Is everything in place for stage two?"  
"Yes. All we need is the other…"_  
The first walked over to the table, and placed his hand over Jon's chest making him contort in pain as a wave of Ice passed over his body.  
"_Do you think they will come for you? Do you think they will try to save you after what you did to them?"_  
Then a light pulsed intensely on a monitor. The figure examined it briefly, and then turned to leave, taking Jon with him telekinetically, still bound.  
"_Perhaps they will. But there is nothing they can do for you now."_

Sora and the rest of the group stood in the square before the ruins of Memory's Skyscraper, its screen broken but still showing flashes of the past. Out of the ground rose the hooded man, Jon hanging limply in chains of ice behind him, crystals of it clinging to his hair and clothes.  
"_It would appear that I was wrong. You really would try to save him after what he did to you before."_  
Sora and Riku both seemed to recognise the voice, but it was subtly different to what they could remember.  
"What do you mean?"  
"_After he condemned you to an eternity beyond life but not quite in death. But it would seem you were strong enough to escape. Congratulations."_  
"Who are you?"_  
"Ah. The direct approach. I like that. But you already know who I am. Or have you forgotten?"_ He chuckled at this. "_Speaking of forgetting…"_ He raised his hand, and Kairi dropped to her knees, something in her chest glowing intensely. Everyone seemed to realise where this was going, and both Sora and Riku stood between the strange man and her. But it was too late. A glowing figure burst forth from within Kairi, before settling into a recognisable form in the middle of the square, a blonde haired girl in a white dress, who was swiftly bound in the same icy chains.

Naminé was reborn.

"_And now I must bid you all farewell…"_  
However, as he prepared to return to the tunnels taking Jon and Naminé with him, Sora tackled him to the ground, motivated by a will that was not entirely his own.  
"_Brave, but foolish, I'm afraid. There is nothing you can do to stop this."_  
"Or is there?" The voice was different. Whoever was speaking, it wasn't Sora; something confirmed when the same light show started up again, flinging Sora away and leaving another figure in his place, who was also blonde haired and garbed in white, but with a fair amount of black clothing as well.  
Roxas.  
"Let her go. Now!"  
"_I'm afraid I can't do that, Roxas. The plan has gone too far for you to ruin it now."_  
"How do you know my name?"  
"_I'm surprised you don't remember mine."_ The figure cast Roxas off and stood up, dropping his hood. The revelation of who it was shocked everyone.  
"Vexen!"  
"Almost, but not quite."  
"But how?"  
"All will become clear soon enough. But for now, I have real business to attend to, and so must bid you all farewell." And with that, Vexen dropped into the ground, taking Jon and Naminé with him.

Riku walked up to Roxas, who was stood there looking shocked.  
"We have to find them."  
"No, you have more important things to deal with." Roxas motioned at Sora and Kairi, who had both been left drained by the whole ordeal. "This is my problem now – I will not leave Naminé in his hands."  
"Well, good luck then."

Sora came round in the living area of the Gummi Ship. He and Kairi had passed out after the extraction.  
"What happened?"  
"Roxas. He tore himself out of your body after Naminé was released." Riku was crouched next to him.  
"So who was the hooded man then?"  
"Vexen. Or so we think anyway. He seemed to be different somehow." Sora recoiled slightly on hearing this. He had fought Vexen in Castle Oblivion, and the Nobody was persistent enough then. It would appear that not even being incinerated was enough to stop him.  
"We have to stop him." Sora tried to stand up, but was still too weak.  
"There's nothing you can do for the moment. Roxas already went underground looking for Naminé."

Jon was back on the table, still bound by the chains of ice. Vexen was stood over him again, and shocked him with an ice wave again.  
"You want to know the truth, really?"  
Jon seemed to move his head slightly, the persistent torture having left him weakened severely. Vexen seemed to interpret that as a nod, and continued.  
"The truth is you aren't real." He shocked him again. "You were created here, by me." And again. "You were created for a purpose." And once more. "A purpose that you failed at." One last shock. Longer than before, this drained the colour from Jon's face and left him limp. "And a purpose you have forgotten. No matter." And then he left.

Roxas was moving silently through the tunnels, but was still attacked by the occasional Heartless cluster or group of Dusk Nobodies. He had found that he lacked the ability for the moment to use both his Keyblades, having access to only the Two Become One blade. He came into one of Vexen's old labs, where he had conducted some of the work on the Replica project when it was still a secret from the rest of the Organisation. Inside, he could see Vexen standing over a figure chained to a table, shocking him with ice whilst shouting something about a purpose, before leaving. Roxas walked up to the table. The boy on it was pale and cold to the touch, with ice building up in his hair. It was obvious he wouldn't survive another round. A few quick swipes with the Keyblade broke the chains, but Roxas could not rouse the boy. Not without heat, and he had no skill with fire magic._  
Times like this make me really miss Axel._  
With no other option, he picked up the boy and slung one of his arms over his shoulder. The boy was incredibly limp, and it may have already been too late to save him. And then a blue thing the size of a small computer mouse dropped out of the boy's pocket.

"Can anyone hear this?" The voice came over the communication system in the Gummi Ship. Riku stood up and walked to the panel.  
"Roxas? Yeah, I can hear you."  
"Oh good. I think I found something that belongs to you."  
"Where are you?"  
"By the skyscraper. Be quick though, I don't know how long it'll be before Vex realises what's happened. Or how long he'll last without proper help."

Roxas was hiding with the limp body in the ruins of the skyscraper, where everything had begun for him this time round. He watched as Riku came through the ruins, beating off Heartless and Dusks with The Way to The Dawn.  
"How's he doing?"  
"I don't know. Maybe he's already gone, maybe there's a chance."  
"Either way we need to get him to the ship. It's better than leaving him here for Vexen to find again."  
"Right." The pair lifted Jon's body, taking an arm each, and carried him back to the Gummi ship. Thankfully the Heartless and Nobodies opted to leave them alone.

On board, they laid Jon onto one of the beds in the living area. A display showed up above him displaying various vital signs. Most were weak or shallow. The boy was alive, but barely. The exception was his mental activity, which read almost as though he was asleep and dreaming.  
"How are the others?" Roxas was showing concern. For an ordinary Nobody, this would be impossible, but neither he nor Naminé were "normal".  
"They're fine. Sora was the last to come round, but he should be OK in a few minutes. Why?"  
"Because I plan to go back underground, and I think I'm going to need all the help I can get. I will not leave Naminé behind, but you shouldn't leave them undefended."  
"Too right."

As the pair left to return to the tunnels and start searching again, Jon was going on a journey of his own. In his mind, he was falling through an ocean, before landing on the bottom and finding he could breathe. Then the ground erupted into a flock of birds, leaving behind a platform in the darkness like the one he had encountered when this had all begun. A different voice spoke to him this time._**  
The darkness tried to tempt you, but you resisted. Now it is time to take your first steps into the light once more.**_  
Three pedestals appeared out of the platform's surface._**  
Your true power lies dormant. But it can be Awakened. The form it takes is your choice.**_  
A staff appeared on one pedestal._**  
The Staff. Speed and agility, but at the cost of attack power.**_  
A short sword appeared on the centre pedestal._**  
The Sword. A balance of speed and power, but at the cost of defence.**_  
A shield appeared on the last pedestal._**  
The Shield. Good defence, but at the cost of speed.**_  
Jon considered this briefly, ultimately choosing the staff._**  
This is your choice. You are the essence that gives your power form, and that power is yours alone.**_  
Another platform appeared some way off, linked to the first by a set of steps._**  
This power will allow you to defeat your enemies and those that would harm those whom you hold dear. But you must know how to wield it.**_  
On the next platform, Jon was surrounded by a group of Shadow Heartless. He instinctively reached for the point on his belt where the beam sword should have been, but it was gone. Then a new weapon appeared in his hand, a Keyblade of his own. This one was Jet Black, with a wing like design on the shaft, head and hilt. He called it the "Raven's Wing", because that's what it looked like._**  
This is your weapon now.**_  
Jon swung the Keyblade in a long arc, taking out the shadows in front of him. The only problem was that he had created his own style of fighting with the Beam Sword. The hilt was in a different orientation now, parallel to the weapon rather than perpendicular, so whatever skill he had didn't translate very well, and his muscle memory nearly made him smack himself in the head several times. But in the end, there were no Shadows left._**  
You have the tools you need on your journey back to the light. But a weapon is not the only thing you will need. Magic can aid you as well.**_  
Four orbs appeared before Jon, each a different colour. Red, Blue, Yellow and Green. Each formed themselves into an Emblem Heartless, and proceeded to attack him. Jon rolled under the red one, delivering a slash into its underside. However, it was cloaked in a green light and whatever damage he had done was healed. Realising the problem, Jon made for the Green Heartless, taking it down with a pair of strikes, releasing the green orb, which flew into his chest, giving him a new power.  
"Cure." He recognised the magic power from what had happened in the coliseum. With the Cure power taken out of the equation, he leaped at the Red Heartless again, the power of his Keyblade making him more acrobatic than before. Another pair of strikes released the red orb. He then pointed his Keyblade at the blue Heartless.  
"Fire!" He cried, and the small fireball lanced out and smashed the blue orb free, granting him a third power; The power of Ice. He pointed his Keyblade at the last Heartless, the yellow one.  
"Take this. Freeze!" The ice crystal jetted into the yellow body, removing the orb and clearing the platform, and delivering his last spell; Thunder._**  
You are ready to begin again. If you keep the strength, you will see the light once more.**_  
A door appeared in front of him, shrouded in light._**  
The way ahead is shrouded in darkness, but the light of the heart will show you the path.**_

Jon stepped through the door and woke up on the bed aboard the Gummi Ship. He tried to sit up, but even this was a struggle.  
"Hey. Easy now. You're still very weak after what happened." It was Sora.  
"What happened?"  
"I was hoping you could tell me. You were almost dead when Riku and Roxas brought you in."  
Jon ran his hand through his hair. There was still ice built up in it.  
"All I remember is going from Olympus to a weird lab then being frozen a lot by some guy in a hood. Then I blacked out." He was still feeling the effects of being frozen several times, and summoned a small fireball between his hands to try to warm up. It helped a bit.  
"Since when could you do that?"  
"Oh, this? I ended up going through some weird spiritual journey thing after I blacked out. It involved Heartless and some weird stained glass platforms."  
Sora recognised what Jon had just described. He'd gone through something similar himself.

In the tunnels, Riku and Roxas heard a familiar scream near to Vexen's lab.  
"NAMINÉ!" Roxas realised she was in trouble, and ran down the corridor. Riku followed closely, and they came upon an open area. Vexen was stood in the middle, holding Naminé by her arm as she tried to wrestle free…


	9. Chapter 9

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.

All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders, be it Square, Disney or whoever.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 9

World: The World That Never Was

Vexen loosed off another blast of Ice that smashed into the wall just above where Riku and Roxas were hiding. Naminé had been confined to a cage of ice to one side, and the entire chamber had been turned into a veritable ice rink.  
"Do you still have the communicator?"  
"Yeah. Why?"  
"I think we need help."

On the Gummi ship, Sora was pacing the living area. Kairi was asleep, and Jon had finally managed to stand up, although his legs still felt stiff from being frozen, even after he'd run a fireball over them.  
"Hey, Sora! You there?" The voce came from one of the blocks in his pouch. Sora pulled it out.  
"Yeah. What's up?"  
"Vexen's getting too much to handle, we need help."  
"I'll be right there." He moved to leave. Jon attempted to follow.  
"No. Stay here. It's too dangerous out there. And anyway, ten minutes ago you were nearly dead. Next time it could happen for real. Sorry, but I can't let you go."  
"Alright. I get it. Just go."  
Sora ran out of the ship and into the street, heading underground before following the sounds of battle.

In the chamber he found Riku and Roxas pinned down behind a broken wall across the way, with Vexen unaware that he was even there. Seizing the initiative, Sora jumped and smacked his Keyblade into Vexen's back.  
"Did 'ya miss me?"  
The three boys encircled Vexen.  
"Alright. It ends here."  
"Does it? For you, maybe." Vexen summoned a ring of icicles, that threw the trio into the air and sent them skidding across the ice on the ground.

Jon sat on the bed for a while, before making a decision.

Vexen stood above Sora, and raised his shield to drive the point of the top-most spike into his chest.  
"Fire!" The voice was familiar. The fireball smashed Vexen in the chest, making him stagger back a few paces, allowing Sora to stand up. Jon leaped from an elevated position to the ground next to him, Keyblade in hand.  
"I thought I told you to stay behind."  
"You're welcome, by the way. I thought you could use the help."  
Sora sighed heavily.  
"Whatever. Now let's just finish this." The four of them closed on the slumped figure, who stood up, obviously in pain. Before any of them could strike a final blow, his body exploded into blue flame, and collapsed. Sora went to touch it, and the whole thing crumbled into a pile of white ash.

Behind where Vexen had been stood just before he died, a line of eleven people, all garbed in that same style of black cloak that had been so prolific not that long ago, waited for the four of them to make the next move.  
"That's… That's impossible, isn't it?" Sora was shocked.  
"They should all be dead…" Riku couldn't understand it either.  
"_Hello again, Sora."_ The leader stepped out of the line.  
"You can't be the Organisation. It was destroyed."_  
"Almost, but not quite."_  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
"_All will become clear in time…"_  
And then the line stepped back one pace and disappeared into the same sort of portal that brought Jon to the world in the first place, taking Naminé with them.  
"So what was that all about?" Jon started, but then collapsed. Evidently he wasn't ready for prolonged exertion yet. Riku picked him up, and checked his pulse.  
"He's alive. Just."  
The group then fled the chamber as pieces stated to fall from the ceiling.

World: Radiant Garden

"I don't get it. How can the Organisation be back?" Sora was still trying to get his head round this new development.  
"What do you mean?"  
"I mean, last time I checked, Roxas was the only member left. The rest faded into darkness."  
"It's possible they aren't actually the true Organisation." Leon seemed to have the answer.  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
"Do you remember the Replica Project?"  
"Seriously? They're Replicas?"  
"It's the most logical explanation."

Below them, Jon was sparring with Riku in the Castle Gate area, trying to get the hang of using his Keyblade. Merlin had been able to stabilise him, so he wasn't likely to pass out again. He wasn't that bad a fighter anymore, but the shift from the Beam Sword to a Keyblade was still throwing him off a bit. Eventually, they decided to call time and headed back up to the Bailey.  
"Well, it would explain the whole "Almost, but not quite" thing."  
"Indeed."  
"So how do we find them?"  
"We can track some of the energy left behind when a portal is activated, and the concentration of that energy can give a rough estimate of when the portal was opened." Cid's latest plan seemed workable enough.  
"So we just follow the chain to the common point?"  
"Sort of. We just follow the last portal we know was opened, which is this one." Cid pointed at the screen at The World That Never Was, "And locate the other end." He tapped a few keys, and another world showed up. Twilight Town.  
"Well, that's surprising."  
"I can retrofit the Gummi ship with one of these sensors, but you'll still have to find the location manually."

World: Twilight Town

The Gummi ship flew cloaked over the town, circling until Cid's new sensor block located the portals of Darkness the Organisation had used to get there in the first place.  
"I've got a reading." With five humans, a duck and something else in the cockpit it was getting a bit cramped. Jon had moved into the living area just forward of the cockpit, and was laying on one of the beds listening to his music player again. Considering what it had been through, it was a surprise it still worked perfectly well. He sat up as the ship touched down and the ramp to his left dropped, and everyone except Donald and Goofy stepped out onto the Sandlot. It was early morning, so there were few people around, and so no-one to notice five people stepping out of thin air. Behind them, the cloaked Gummi Ship taking off again kicked up a large quantity of dust, before the group headed off in the direction of the Old Mansion, where the signal came from. Sora had a green Gummi block strapped to his left wrist, which they could use to narrow down the location within the mansion, and track them if they went off-world.

The mansion's gates were as imposing as ever, and the building itself was silhouetted by the fixed sun which gave the town its name. Sora's Keyblade opened the lock without resistance, just as before. Inside the mansion, the block began to glow along one edge, showing a direction. Following this took them into the White Room. A lone Corridor of Darkness lay open before them. Roxas tried to enter, but Riku stopped him.  
"Wait. It could be a trap."  
"Maybe. But the only lead we have is on the other side."  
"Well, either way we need to be careful…"  
And with that, the entire group passed through, into the darkness and out the other side.

On the other side was the City That Never Was, except the whole thing was intact.  
"Is this… A simulation?" Roxas was familiar with the concept, having lived in a simulation of Twilight Town for some time after his departure from the Organisation.  
"Maybe. Be careful. It could still turn out to be a trap." Sora tried to keep a level head.  
This scepticism was found to be justified when the group was surrounded by a swarm of Dusks. They were forced into a rough circle, Keyblades drawn.  
"Well…" Sora began, but was cut off.  
"If you say "I told you so", so help me I'll whack you." Jon was in no mood for sarcasm. Then the swarm charged at them…

A/N: Well, three chapters in just over a day. I'd also appreciate it if people who took the time to read this left reviews, if only to tell me what I'm doing wrong, but I'm not gonna force you to…


	10. Chapter 10

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.  
All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders, be it Square, Disney or whoever.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 10

World: The World That Never Was?

The dusks encircled the group, and charged. Jon ducked the first swipe, slid underneath the Dusk, and smacked it to the floor, before moving on to the next. Sora and Roxas were back to back, smashing Dusks left and right, Riku was going through them like it was going out of fashion and Kairi seemed to be relying on offensive magic to clear them out, supplemented by her Keyblade. Before too long, the street was clear.  
"Right. We need to get moving, before more Dusks show up."  
"But to where?"  
That question was answered by a lightning bolt slamming into the wall by Sora's head. Another cloaked figure was stood in the street up ahead. As they prepared to fight, the figure zoomed away, prompting everyone to give chase.

They stopped in an open square, some visibly out of breath. Then a set of thrown knives erupted from the shadows, pinning everyone except Sora to the walls. The figure dropped into the middle of the square.  
"_Hello, Sora."_  
Before they could do anything else, Sora jumped at them, Keyblade in hand, but was simply swatted away.  
"_Still impulsive. Vexen was just a warm-up. Now, it's my turn. And I won't make the same mistakes again…"_  
They then charged at Sora, moving at great speed and with surprising agility.

Jon reached up and tried to pull the knife out of the wall where it had pinned his shoulder. It was a yellow kunai-like blade, with turquoise accents. He pulled it once, and didn't seem to shift, even with both his hands.

Sora ducked under one strike only to be caught from behind.  
"How about you stay still for a minute? Freeze!"  
The ice crystal that erupted from the Keyblade caught his opponent in the foot, causing them to hit the floor.  
"So who is it this time?"_  
"I thought it would be obvious. Everything is repeating, after all. Tell me, you ever get tired of playing the hero?"_  
"You ever get tired of pain?" Sora jabbed the figure lightly with his Keyblade, putting a fireball on the end. The figure stiffened and gave a muffled scream. "Larxene?"  
"_Almost, but not quite. So you figured it out. Props to you. Not that it matters. Do you really think you can save her and stop this?"_  
"What do you think?"  
"_Does it matter?"_ The figure pulled back their hood. It was Larxene, second of the Organisation to be defeated before, and again this time. At once, the same blue flames engulfed her body, and it crumbled to ash as soon as Sora tried to touch it. The knives that pinned everyone else vanished, without leaving so much as a mark.  
"Two down, Ten to go."

"But where do we go next?"  
"No Idea."  
"So we just wander the streets until we find a way out?"  
"We could always try the castle." Roxas seemed to have the answer.

The Castle That Never Was towered over the city, a white leviathan in a sea of blacks and greys. The symbol of the Nobodies and the Organisation adorned the main tower, and a single bridge ran up to the entrance from the ground. The group ran up the bridge, fighting off Dusks every step of the way, before coming to the entrance and heaving it shut.  
"_So you made it." _The voice was strong, yet serene. The speaker was a colossus, towering over everyone in the group. Riku knew who it was.  
"Lexaeus. I suppose it was inevitable."  
"_Yes. Yes it was."_ Lexaeus raised his hand, and a barrier of stone erupted from the floor, separating Riku from the rest of the group._ "This is our fight and ours alone."_  
"Very well." Riku drew his Keyblade and began to circle. Lexaeus simply stood, unmoving, waiting for Riku to make the first move. This could go on for some time. Roxas knew he had always been the quiet one, but could smash something to pieces if he had to.

Eventually, he snapped and threw the Skysplitter like a boomerang. It swung round, nearly separating Riku's head from his shoulders, had he not ducked under it. The giant then caught the sword and smashed it into the ground, sending a huge shockwave across their little arena. Riku jumped up and over the shockwave, and tried to strike him in the face, but was simply swatted away. He was able to land on his feet, and slid back a few feet from the force, before summoning orbs of dark magic and firing them at Lexaeus. The orbs thudded into his chest, but did nothing apparent to slow the leviathan as he charged, making huge swings with the Skysplitter. However, the exertion broke some of his concentration, weakening the barrier.  
"_My power has no limit. You will see just how weak you truly are!"_  
"Maybe. But nothing is truly unbreakable!" Riku summoned more Dark Orbs, firing them at a crack in the barrier caused by Lexaeus' concentration lapsing. They tore into it, blowing a hole in the wall. Everyone else surged through, Keyblades drawn, and surrounded the giant.  
"This ends, now!" Sora was back in the lead.  
"_Does it? Maybe for you, but not for me. Your world was only the beginning; soon we shall control the darkness and everything it consumes…"_  
Angered by this, Sora leapt onto Lexaeus, smashing him with the Keyblade in what could almost be termed rage. The repeated strikes drove him to the floor, but something stopped Sora from delivering the final blow. It was Kairi, who caught his wrist and held it back.  
"Sora. Killing him won't bring them back."  
"Kairi's right. Just because this gives you a chance to vent doesn't mean anything gets solved." Jon stepped forward and tried to offer another voice of reason. They were interrupted, however, by Lexaeus bursting into blue flames, just like the others.  
"So the real Organisation members faded into darkness, but these Replicas get immolated by something?" Sora was confused.

The group climbed through the castle, before reaching an open area and looking back on the city. It seemed to be vanishing.  
"I think we need to get out of here." Sora was right. The simulation was closing itself down, with them still inside it. Following the locator block, they attempted to get back to the portal, but were blocked by another of the Replicas, scythe in hand, giving them an almost Grim Reaper style look with the hood up.  
"Marluxia!"  
"_Indeed. You will go no further."_  
"Says who?" Sora threw his Keyblade, sending it spinning down the street at the hooded figure. They tried to block it and failed, allowing it to strike them in the chest, knocking them back.  
"_Impressive."_ The figure pulled down his hood with a single hand, allowing his pink hair to spill over his shoulders. Marluxia, Number XI, leader of the Castle Oblivion rebellion. "Your abilities have grown since before."  
"More than you know."  
"And as for you, traitor…" He looked at Roxas with a glare that lowered the temperature a few degrees.  
"You can't betray something that doesn't exist."  
"No. But the penalty must still be paid. Stand ready, for your hearts shall be judged!" HE then ran at the group, who were spread in a line, Keyblades drawn.

The first swipe spread the group, who all took their own way to avoid it. Kairi hit the deck, Jon leapt up, his new found agility carrying him through the reverse flip and onto his feet, Roxas slid back once, taking him clear of the arc, Riku ducked under, and Sora blocked the strike, parrying with a blow to first the shaft then to Marluxia's arm. The pain knocked the Replica back a few paces, allowing Riku to slide underneath the sweep and deliver a blow to the legs. Jon then leapt up and struck him in the chest, forcing him down. A barrage of Ice blasts from Kairi's hands locked him to the floor, and Roxas grabbed him from behind, Keyblade to his throat. Sora stood before him.  
"My power has grown, but it doesn't just come from the Keyblade. My friends are my power, and as they believe in me, I believe in them."  
"You are still a fool. You cannot hope to defeat us again."  
"Sure about that? We took you easily enough."  
Marluxia gave him a strange look.  
"Yes. But can you feel it? The darkness in your heart spreading again? Trying to drag you down once more?" He couldn't finish, as the flames spread across his body, and it crumbled to ash in Roxas' hands.  
"What did he mean by that?" Jon was confused.  
"Does it matter? We need to get out, now. The corridor's this way." Sora stowed his Keyblade and ran off down the street, following the block.

A/N: Well, this seems like a good place to take hiatus for the Christmas period. That and we've cleared the Castle Oblivion group. So whatever. Not likely to be another chapter until mid-January. Exams…*grumble*


	11. Chapter 11

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.  
All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders, be it Square, Disney or whoever. Since no-one actually reads this, it's unlikely that I'm going to get sued over it, but please don't anyway.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 11

World: Radiant Garden

Jon was sat on part of the wall by the castle, wondering about what Vexen had meant while he was being tortured.  
"_You were created here, by me." "You were created for a purpose." "A purpose you have forgotten..."_  
It didn't make any more sense now that it had then. He dropped back off the wall and ran toward the restoration site.

Inside Merlin's house, everyone else was trying to work out just what was happening now, or rather, what the Replica Organisation's plan was.  
"But why would they need either of them, if all they're trying to do is force all the worlds into darkness?" Sora was still confused.  
"It's possible they may have planned to use Naminé to alter his memory for their own ends."  
Sora nodded, the real organisation had, after all, done the same thing to him in Castle Oblivion.  
"But he only got the ability to use a Keyblade after that event. So it can't be for the same reason."  
"No, it can't." Leon seemed to need to state the obvious again.

Jon walked through the marketplace. When he'd washed up on that beach, which seemed like an age ago, everything had seemed so familiar. But why? He looked at his hands. He'd started wearing black half-gloves now that he used a Keyblade. Not for any reason, just because he could. That and they helped with keeping a solid grip, with the strange material on the palms giving friction on the hilt.

"Unless they planned to use him to deal with you."  
"How so?"  
"If they could alter his memory, they could make him think you were an enemy and that his task was to destroy you, thus preventing you or anyone else from interfering in their plan."  
"But why the torture?"  
"I'm no expert on the subject, but a weakened heart should make it easier to manipulate the memory chains. Which would explain why the Organisation had such a hard time getting the changes they made to your memories to stick." If even Merlin was stumped, this wasn't a good sign.

Out in the market square, another corridor of darkness opened right in front of Jon, who ran for cover. In doing so it set off the defence system, sending orbs rising up from the ground. From the portal stepped another member of the organisation, hood up so that no-one could see his face. He seemed to be talking to himself.  
"_Right. What did they say to do? Locate and extract the subject using any means necessary. They sure picked the wrong guy for this..."_  
Jon was up a set of stairs from the hooded figure, who now seemed to be searching in odd places for whoever it was he came to find. Sora came running up from the residential area.  
"What's happening?"  
"Another guy showed up. There he is." Jon pointed at the hooded man, who had lifted a plant pot to look underneath it. "Well, he's crazy all right."  
"Think you can take him?"  
"Why?"  
"So I can get this..." Sora held up a red block "...through the portal. See where they're coming from."  
"Right. Here goes." Jon drew his Keyblade and vaulted the wall, landing behind the mysterious figure. "Hey leather brain, you lose something?"_  
Antagonising the guy who could probably cut you to pieces in one sweep. Nice job._  
"_Aha! I knew I'd find you eventually. Or did you find me? Whatever, point is, I'm taking you with me."_  
Jon hefted his Keyblade.  
"I don't think so somehow."  
Behind the hooded man, Sora casually tossed the block through the portal, and walked away whistling like nothing was wrong. But not for long. Above, everyone else had arrived. The hooded man gave what might have been an annoyed look, but Jon couldn't tell, what with being unable to see his face and all. He didn't seem to notice any of the others though.  
"_I'm afraid you don't get a choice."_ He dropped his hood, revealing his face. Sora's heart seemed to sink. It was Demyx, Number IX in the organisation, and possibly one of the toughest fights he'd had. "Now, there's only one thing left to say..." He produced his weapon, a giant Sitar with a design like the Organisation's insignia. Sora knew what was coming next, and drew his Keyblade.

"...DANCE, WATER, DANCE!"

Playing his sitar, Demyx made a number of water clones rise from the ground. Jon immediately rolled to the left, and drove his Keyblade through the first of the ten clones. It didn't seem to do anything, as the water flowed round the blade and reformed on the other side. He pulled the blade out and aimed it.  
"Fire!" The magic fireball punched into the nearest clone and caused it to explode in a shower of droplets which reformed on the floor.  
"How do you beat these things?"  
"Like this!" Sora shouted as he leapt from above and seized one of the clones, which formed itself into a note shape. It led him on a dance for a few seconds before spinning round his head and exploding, taking a number of the other clones with it. The pair repeated this action a few times, leaving the square clear of clones. Demyx made for the portal, but Sora slid round behind him and blocked it.  
"Going somewhere?"

The little argument was interrupted by another Keyblade spinning out from above, striking the Replica on the shoulder.  
"HEY!" He shouted at the unseen thrower. "That really hurt, you know!"  
Riku jumped off the stairs and joined the fight.  
"I thought you guys didn't do pain?"  
"There's a lot you don't know..." He played another note, sending plumes of water crashing up into the sky. Jon ran straight for him, dodging the spouts, and delivered a strike to the back of his leg whilst zooming past. Another plume nearly took Sora off his feet when it mysteriously froze solid and crashed to the ground. Behind him stood Kairi, a cloud of mist round her hand. It vanished and was replaced by her Keyblade. The four of them surrounded the Replica, who now seemed to be scared, something else he really shouldn't be. But then again, Sora knew he was a master of emotional trickery. He'd previously managed to convince everyone that he was almost a pacifist, only to drop this ploy just before his final battle. And so he did again, charging at Sora and sending a wave of explosive bubbles cascading around the square. Sora ducked under the barrage, rolled along the floor and whacked the Replica in the back. It staggered for a second, then turned round and smashed him in the face with the sitar. It sent him sliding across the square and into a wall. Jon flipped over the next swing, and ran over.

"Hey. You still all there?" He could almost see the stars dancing round Sora's head, and a small amount of blood running from his nose. Sora groaned weakly, and opened his eyes. Everything in front of him looked like it was underwater.  
"Wha...?"  
"Hey. How many fingers?" Jon held up his hand, three fingers extended.  
"Six. Why?"  
"You've been smashed in the head. I'm not an expert, but you seem to be seeing double."  
Sora shook his head a few times to clear his vision, and stood up, staggering slightly, before wiping the blood from his face and drawing his Keyblade again. Up ahead, Kairi smashed a thunderbolt into the Replica's arm, causing him to stop running and face her. But he wasn't expecting what happened next. Sora leapt on to his back and wrestled him to the ground, before standing up and holding the Keyblade to his throat. Demyx lashed out, striking Sora in the leg and bringing him to the floor. Demyx tried to stand up, but was almost immediately tackled from behind. The unseen figure put a foot on his back and held him down.

"So what do we do with him?" It was Roxas.  
"I'm not sure you should be doing that. Remember what happened last time?" Jon was talking about when Marluxia burst into flames whilst Roxas had him in a headlock. He still had some of the burns on his forearm that even magic didn't seem to want to shift. Realising it wasn't the best idea, Roxas stepped down. Demyx moved weakly, and looked at Sora.  
"No way could you have beaten me again."  
"Believe it." Sora noted dryly, as the Replica began to combust. "It's the truth." The flames spread across his body, illuminating the whole marketplace a flickering blue. He fished the communicator block from his pouch.  
"Hey, Donald, you got the marker?"  
"We got it, just waiting for you."  
"OK. Off we go again..."

A/N: All right, so I managed to smash out another chapter over the Christmas weekend. But this may or may not be the start of the last bit. And more unsubtle foreshadowing, yay! Maybe I can get the next bit done before Birth By Sleep comes out in Japan and whatever backstory I had planned is contradicted...


	12. Chapter 12

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.  
All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders, be it Square, Disney or whoever. Since no-one actually reads this, it's unlikely that I'm going to get sued over it, but please don't anyway.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 12

World: None

"Remind me why we can't use the corridor like last time?" Jon was quizzical.  
"Because it's too dangerous. No-one really knows what the long term effects of darkness on the Heart are." Sora tried to explain as best he could, as the ship rocked violently again.  
"We've got a huge battle-cruiser chasing us across the stars, and you're going on about dangerous?"  
"Shut up and hold on, I'm taking us in..." Sora banked the ship to the left, and flew directly at the pursuing Dreadnought.  
"Right. This isn't just dangerous, it's suicide."

"The blasters can't fire fast enough to hold off the enemy fighters and hit the fixed guns. We need to launch the Teeny Ships." He turned to Riku. "You know what to do?"  
Riku nodded, then turned to Jon. "Go down that ladder, and get set up. Should be easy enough for you." He pointed at a ladder on the port side of the cockpit dome. Jon climbed down it and into a smaller version of the cockpit, with a seat, a joystick and a simpler instrument panel. He pulled a small wire headset from the panel and hooked it over his ear, before settling into the seat, feet on the pedals and stick in his hand. Riku's voice came over the communicator.  
"You in?"  
"Yeah. Ready to go."  
"Right. Hit the blue button on the panel."

Jon saw the button and pressed it, making the seat lurch. The cyan dome above turned clear and he could see the insides of some sort of launch bay. His ship was like a smaller version of the main ship, but with no pods on the wings, and from the looks of it only one cannon and engine. The whole cockpit shuddered as the engine warmed up, and the craft was fired backwards out of the bay, which was just above the engines. After buffeting in the wake for a few seconds Jon wrestled the small ship into something like level flight,and pulled into formation off the port wing, before looking up.  
"Heads up – incoming fighters."  
A load of grey objects was diving toward the formation. Sora's voice came over the comm.  
"All right. Break off, see if you can take them."  
Jon pulled the stick back into his left thigh, rolling the ship and climbing out toward the enemy.

"Here we go..."  
One of the fighters was highlighted by a symbol on the inside of the dome as the blaster locked onto it. Jon found the trigger on the far side of the stick and pulled it, causing a string of blaster shots to lance out at the targeted enemy, slicing through it and causing it to explode._  
Right. Next._

Sora rolled the ship through a hole in the armour plating. The last time he'd gone up against one of these the only way to destroy it had been to take out the engine core deep within the ship. The main sensor unit found it directly beneath the large tower at the stern end of the vessel, and mapped a route, which appeared on the inside of the dome as a glowing yellow line.

Outside, Jon mashed one of the pedals with his foot, swinging his ship round to face a pursuing fighter, before shredding it with a lucky shot. What he hadn't counted on was everything else continuing to move, and he nearly collided with the Dreadnought before realising what had happened and firing the engine again._  
OK, now pay attention._  
He used the burn to turn round and lined up on a gun turret that stood between him and the entrance, which he had just seen both of the other ships pass through. He pulled the trigger, only for every shot to miss._  
You just failed to hit a stationary target. Idiot._  
He then rolled the ship through the gap and formed up with the others as they moved through the interior of the Dreadnought.

On the inside, the problem came more from the turrets than the fighters. Easier to hit, but still a problem if it's your first time at the controls. Jon found himself at the back of the formation as it snaked through the various tunnels that ran the length of the ship connecting the launch bays. All he seemed to do was pick off whatever Sora or Riku missed. The tunnel kept changing direction, turning left and right, going up and down. He was struggling to keep up with the others, and nearly crashed into the wall several times._  
Come on. You can do this, just hold it together..._

Eventually the formation broke through into an open area punctuated by a glowing tower.  
"That's the main power core."  
"So how do we destroy it?"  
On the main ship, Sora was scanning the core, looking for a way to damage and hopefully destroy it. Jon looked at his own scope.  
"Whatever you do, make it quick. I read another cluster moving in."

Sure enough, another group of fighters burst through the hatch ahead, blocking the exit. Riku pinned the throttle open, sending his ship speeding directly at them, firing madly. Jon preferred to accelerate gradually, and took a pot-shot from long range which barely clipped the target, but enough to send it spinning into the wall, where it exploded. Suddenly, the blasters on the main ship opened fire on the tower, causing it to stop glowing and some small explosions to break out of the surface and around the chamber.  
"I think it's time to go." Sora was being obvious.  
Jon slammed the throttle lever as far forward as it would go, and zoomed toward the far hatch. Rolling left, he swung through the first turn as the blast hatches began to close.  
"This is gonna get tight. Stay alert..."  
Under one, over another, the three ships tried to outrun the blast wave. Tried. As they got near to the exit, Jon strayed a bit too far behind and got buffeted by the shockwave, which made his ship spin wildly as it cleared the hull and entered open space. A bit of wrestling with the stick and rudder brought it under control, allowing him to dock again, which he botched as well, smacking into the cradle a bit harder than was needed. The dome above him turned blue and the ladder dropped through it. He climbed up and back into the main cockpit.  
"Well, I hope I never have to do that again..."  
"Me neither." Sora banked the ship round to put it on course for the marker, then sent the ship zooming off into the void once more.

A/N: There we go. Short, simple and realistically not very good. Par for the course here really.


	13. Chapter 13

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.

All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders, be it Square, Disney or whoever. Since no-one actually reads this, it's unlikely that I'm going to get sued over it, but please don't anyway.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 13

World: ???

The group dropped out of the Gummi Ship onto a bridge over a ravine. It was a bit exposed and a good spot for an ambush, but it was also the only place they could land easily. Everyone broke into a run, trying to get off the bridge before something went wrong. Which it did.

They were still some distance from the end of the bridge, when they were blocked by a number of lances thudding into the road, forming a barrier. A strange but familiar laugh boomed up from the ravine.  
"_This was so predictable."_  
Upon hearing the distinctive voice of one of the Organisation, everyone drew their Keyblades.  
"_As was that. You shall go no further."_  
The lances shot out of the ground, as their wielder dropped from the sky in their place. This one was built a lot ticker than the other members, and towered over the group. He reached up and pulled down his hood, revealing his face. Xaldin, number III in the Organisation, and master of the winds.

Around them, a magic field activated, blocking any escape over the sides or off the end of the bridge. The lances shot from the darkness again, each one trying to fight one of the group as Xaldin held the last. However, one by one they were overcome by the lances and pinned to the side of the bridge.  
"Pathetic. I thought you would have more fight in you than that."  
However, what he failed to notice was Sora managing to get free, and then toss the lance at him like a javelin. It missed, but hit the field and vanished.  
"Impressive. I wish the same could be said of your..." He chuckled slightly. "...friends." He snapped his fingers, and the lances pressed everyone else harder against the walls. Or almost everyone. Whatever he had planned to next was interrupted by a black Keyblade spinning out of nowhere and catching him in the back.

Jon felt the lance pushing into his chest. He heard something crack, and hoped it wasn't one of his ribs. The pain in his chest said otherwise. He pushed back, managing to relive some of the pressure, before trying to push the lance off. He coughed once while doing this, sending a small trickle of blood running out of the corner of his mouth. Pushing harder, he managed to cast off the lance into the field behind him, before taking up his Keyblade again. Thankfully he was behind Xaldin, who hadn't noticed him standing up again.  
"Heal." he said painfully, causing a ring of green light to pass over his body, fixing the damage being crushed had done, before hurling his Keyblade at Xaldin.

Xaldin staggered to his feet, and brought the one free lance swinging back into his hands, spinning it like a staff rather than the bladed pole-arm it was. He then proceeded to fight the pair, using the lance in such a manner. The fight was a flurry of spinning attacks and blocks as it moved both ways along the bridge. Xaldin managed to force Jon's Keyblade into the ground and then struck him in the face, sending him to the floor and reducing the battle back to a one-on-one duel with Sora. The battle continued in a veritable stalemate, and it was obvious it would take something major to end it.

And then Sora did something he hadn't done for some time. He leapt into the sky, a flash of red light engulfing him, hiding him from anyone who looked that way. When he landed, he was holding a pair of Keyblades, the Kingdom Key in one hand, and the Star Seeker in the other, and wearing a red version of his previous outfit. The red light was now confined to his hands and formed an aura round the Keyblades. He then launched at Xaldin, his fighting style now focused on fast, powerful attacks rather than blocking strikes. It was obvious that Xaldin wasn't prepared for this, and received several powerful strikes before being able to block again. However, The damage those few strikes did seemed to be enough, and he was severely weakened, but not defeated. He charged at Sora, but was taken down by a lone fireball. Sora looked over to see Jon laying there with his Keyblade raised. He smiled weakly then hauled himself upright. As if on cue, the remaining lances vanished, freeing the others. They gathered round as Xaldin tried to stand up again. He seemed to be fading, unlike the others who had been incinerated by something.  
"This... Isn't over... All shall return... to the darkness... And we shall be whole... Again..." He struggled with that sentence, before fading into the darkness completely.  
"I'm pretty sure they aren't supposed to do that." Jon's lack of knowledge about how things really worked in the universe was obvious. Sora realised what was happening, though.  
"I think it's safe to say they aren't Replicas anymore."

Beyond the bridge was a city like the City that Never was, but without the perpetual night. However, it was instead covered by clouds which blocked out the sun, so it may as well have been night time given how little they could see. The only light came from various windows and the street lamps. For Jon, the whole thing was very familiar, but he couldn't understand why. It couldn't be the world he came from, since that got destroyed by the Heartless. Or could it?

On one street corner they were confronted by another member of the Organisation. However, he didn't seem to bother with concealing his identity, going about his business with his hood down. Jon was about to charge him, when Sora held him back. Roxas knew who it was.  
"Axel!"  
Back when Roxas had been a part of the Organisation, the two of them had become firm friends. Axel had been assigned to mentor the young Nobody in the early days, and the pair had bonded very well. It was Axel who had tried to break him out of the Simulated Twilight Town, and who had sacrificed himself to save him, through Sora. And yet, here he was.  
"Hey! Just when I thought I wasn't going to see you again."  
"So you actually did miss me then."  
"What did you expect? You're like the little brother I never had!" Axel caught Roxas in a bear-hug that drove the wind from his lungs. Not that he seemed to mind. Neither of them had expected to see each other again.  
"So what happened?"  
"I don't really understand how, but someone was able to use the Replicas to bring the rest of us back."  
"That would explain why Xaldin faded rather than burned, at least." Jon was stringing facts together.  
"So what are you going to do now?" Sora was getting curious.  
"No idea. Probably just get out and see what the universe has to offer. Either way, you want to watch out up ahead." He turned and popped open a portal. "Maybe I'll see you around someday. Or maybe I won't." He stepped through the portal and vanished into the darkness.

A/N: So there we are. And now we wait for the shippers to come rolling in with the hate.


	14. Chapter 14

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.

All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders, be it Square, Disney or whoever. Since no-one actually reads this, it's unlikely that I'm going to get sued over it, but please don't anyway.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 14

World: The World With No Name

The group moved from alleyway to another, pausing only to fight the occasional group of Dusks that blocked them, and the occasional stronger Nobody. It was at this point that, bizarrely, Sora first noticed the black string round Jon's neck.  
"By the way, what is that?"  
"This?" Jon fished the string out from underneath his T-Shirt. On the end was a pendant of a dragon, blowing a pentagram instead of fire. "I'm not sure. It's just there. But every time I look at it I get these weird flashes, and I see things I can't explain. Like memories, only not. It gets very strange very quickly."  
"You know, that sounds familiar." Roxas was being cryptic.  
"What do you mean?"  
Before Jon could get an answer, a laser bolt slammed into the wall less than a foot from his head.

The shooter was stood on a balcony across a square from the alleyway where the group was hiding. He fired another bolt, which blew a large chunk out of the corner. Sora leaned out, holding his Keyblade off-handed and launched a fireball at their assailant. It missed, but made him jump down to the ground.  
"_Nice shot, but you aimed too high."_  
Jon then leapt out and fired an Ice blast at the man, which caught him in the arm, freezing it and making him drop one of his weapons.  
"_Impressive." _He tensed the arm for a few seconds, shattering the ice, and then picked the weapon up off the floor. _"But ultimately foolish. After all, you've left yourself open."_ He then fired off another shot which caught Jon square in the chest and flung him into the wall behind him. He fell to the ground limply.

Sora, Roxas and Riku slid out of the alleyway and faced down the hooded man. Kairi dashed out and hauled Jon's body back into the alley. She had the most skill out of any of the group with healing magic, but she wasn't sure she could do anything. She laid her hand on the middle of his chest.  
"Heal." She said softly under her breath, sending a ring of green light pulsing down her arm and into his body.  
Sora jumped up and swatted the laser arrow back at the hooded man. It landed behind him with a massive explosion, making his cloak billow dramatically. He simply reached up and pulled his hood down. Both Sora and Roxas already knew who it was, but this confirmed it. Xigbar, number II in the Organisation, master of spatial manipulation.  
"Nice. Now let's see how well y'all dance!" He spun in place, firing off a barrage in all directions that looped round and homed in on the trio, making them scatter as the bolts hit the floor and exploded, before leaping back up to the balcony, and putting his arrow-guns together. With this "sniper rifle" he launched a few more bolts before Riku dropped down behind him and knocked him off. He staggered to his feet again and faced the trio.  
"Very good. If only your friend fought that well..."  
It was then that someone zoomed out of the shadows and tackled him to the floor.

Jon woke with a start, and would have yelled in pain (even though it wasn't there, he'd passed out before completely registering it) had Kairi not jammed her hand over his mouth.  
"He thinks you're out of it. You gonna stay quiet?"  
Jon nodded once. Kairi removed her hand. Behind her, Xigbar landed in the square, his back to them.  
"Think you can take him?"  
Jon nodded again, rolled into a crouching position, and drew his Keyblade. Shifting his weight slightly, he broke into a run and tackled Xigbar, forcing him to the ground. He tried to scramble for one of his arrow-guns, but Sora simply kicked it away before he could get to it.  
"Clever little sneak, aren't you? Nothing has ever survived a shot like that before."  
"Maybe. But nothing's the same anymore, either." To be fair, Jon was as surprised at his survival as the Nobody was. He raised his Keyblade, a fireball spinning on the tip. "Maybe you'll get lucky and this won't hurt as much." He then released the fireball, which slammed into the Nobody's back and caused him to begin to fade.  
"So this is it..." And with that, he was consumed by the darkness, leaving no evidence he had ever been there.

The group carried on through the city, heading in no particular direction. However, from an alley, they heard the sound of someone snapping their fingers, and immediately Jon, Riku and Kairi were blocked off by a ring of huge cards, which began to spin faster and faster until it disappeared, taking them with it. Another hooded figure stepped from the shadows.  
"_Hmm... It would seem I missed. No matter."_  
He pulled down his hood, showing his face to the pair that remained. Luxord, number X in the Organisation, the Gambler of Fate and master of Time.  
"I see no reason to go through formal introductions. You both know me, and I know you. The question is, do you know how to play the game?"  
Both Sora and Roxas drew their Keyblades at this point.  
"You think that you do, but do you really? After all, who does?" He then summoned a barrier of cards around himself, and the sound of a clock ticking could be heard.  
"The rhythm of time, and the rhythm of life."  
Sora ran one of the cards through with his Keyblade. It vanished, then the two cards either side shifted to preserve the barrier, making the ring smaller. However, striking one of the cards caused a flash, and Sora disappeared as well, replaced by a large die with his face on. Roxas whacked the dice with his Keyblade, sending it into the the air, and then hit it again as it fell, launching it into the barrier, shattering the wall of cards and restoring Sora to his normal form. Luxord was stood there, and might even have been laughing.  
"Very good. So how about we raise the stakes a bit, hmm?" He snapped his fingers, and three cards appeared behind him. The backs were identical to the others, but on the front...

"The game this time is simple." His voice was angrier this time. "Either you find me, or one of your friends pays the price."  
The cards were adorned with an image of either Jon, Riku or Kairi. Luxord snapped his fingers again, turning himself into a card, and then all four cards spun round so that none of the fronts could be seen. Roxas pointed his Keyblade at Luxord's card, and held it there as the cards began to shift. He managed to keep track of it, even as the speed increased. But only just, to the point where he thought he had it when the cards stopped, but couldn't be sure.  
"I think it's this one." Roxas laid his hand on the card in question.  
"Assuming it's not a trap and he's none of them."  
"True. But there's only one way to be sure." Roxas took up his Keyblade and stabbed it through the card. A flash of light deposited Luxord on the ground, severely weakened.  
"You chose well..." He was beginning to fade. "Well, look at that. I guess... it's time to fold..."  
And with that, he vanished into darkness once again. Another flash of light revealed Jon, Riku and Kairi, completely unharmed after their ordeal, stood behind where the Nobody had been.

The streets were quiet after that. No Dusks darting out of the shadows, nothing. The clouds sat ominously over the city, as if they had something to hide. Eventually the group made it to a large crevasse, like the one occupied by The Castle That Never Was. Down inside it, something seemed to be distorting the rocks, creating an odd pattern in the surface. Something was hidden down there.

But what was it? What was hidden amongst the rocks?


	15. Chapter 15

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.

All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders, be it Square, Disney or whoever. Since no-one actually reads this, it's unlikely that I'm going to get sued over it, but please don't anyway.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 15

World: The World With No Name

Donald flew the Gummi Ship low over the chasm until it was hovering directly over the distorted area. In the front area, four of the five Keybladers were preparing to drop into it. It had been a few hours since they had been there last, and they'd returned to the Radiant Garden to set up for the insertion. The whole bay had been completely re-arranged, with the ramp removed and replaced with a clamshell door, and a number of folded arms carrying ropes. Everyone had been kitted out for the drop, with a harness and various other bits of gear. Jon did one last check of his harness. It was made of grey webbing straps, with one of the communicator blocks clipped to the left shoulder and a pair of carabiners at the waist, along with a medical kit in one of the pouches, carrying various recovery bottles. Ideally, they'd have landed the ship in the chasm, but when they'd scanned it to find what was there, they'd found it would be impossible as it narrowed too much to fit it in. So they'd have to drop in from above. He looked to his left. Riku was checking one of the ropes where it was anchored to the ceiling. Then something flashed into his mind again. Whatever it was, they seemed to be getting more frequent and a lot stronger.

Sora ducked through from the cockpit and hit a button, opening the two halves of the door outward, sending the ropes tumbling down into the abyss.  
"OK. Hook up."  
Jon stepped forward with everyone else, grabbed a rope, and fastened it through the carabiners on his harness.  
"Right. Here goes." Sora pushed himself off the ship and slid down the rope. Everyone else followed. Jon hit the ground last, quickly disconnecting the ropes and moving along the disguised platform with the rest of the group.

The wall of the chasm seemed to have the shape of a squared door on it. Sora laid his hand against it, and fell straight through. Riku sighed, and stepped through after him, and then everyone else followed. On the other side was a corridor almost identical to the ones in the Castle That Never Was.  
"So where are we?" Kairi seemed to realise how out of place this all was.

Further along the corridor opened out into a large circular room, with a glazed dome over the top, high above. The floor was adorned with the insignia of the Organisation, and dropped into nothingness around the edge, with the exception of a bridge leading to each door.  
"So where do we go now? I doubt there's a terminal with a map or whatever." Jon tried to make sense of where he was. Sora picked a door at random, and walked through it, straight into an identical room. This happened repeatedly, even in situations where it should have been impossible for it to have done so.  
"OK. This is weird." Even Sora had a hard time making sense of it all.  
However, one room wasn't empty. In the centre stood a hooded man. He seemed to be unaware of the group's entrance, even though he was stood right in front of them and facing them. If he was aware, he was ignoring them, for whatever reason. And then he spoke.  
"_So you made it here, eventually."_ His voice was cold, the distinct lack of emotion setting everyone on edge. Everyone, except Roxas, who seemed to be getting more and more enraged with every word. "_Anger is an incredible thing. Let it control you, and it becomes an unstoppable power that destroys everything it touches. But control it, and you become unstoppable instead."_ He reached up, and pulled down his hood, releasing his hair. It was long and ice-blue, and a cross-shaped scar adorned his face.

Saïx, Organisation member number VII, and otherwise known as the Lunar Diviner.

Seeing his face awakened something in Roxas, a feeling of rage over something he couldn't quite remember, something buried in his memory and gaining substance all the time. A name. A face. A promise he made, something which seemed an age ago. But everything remained shrouded in shadow. Or at least, it had before. Just seeing him again drove away and everything came flooding back in a torrent of anger and sadness. If you looked into his eyes at that point, they'd almost seem to be on fire. They were certainly glowing quite severely.  
"Xion! Remember her?" With this cry, Roxas was able to do something he hadn't done for a very long time. The memories of his friend allowed him to call upon the power she had given him as she died. With a greater glow than usual, Roxas slid out his twin Keyblades – The Oblivion and The Oathkeeper, just as he had in the Mansion basement, the last thing he'd done before accepting his fate. Everyone else drew their own blades, and faced down Saïx, who showed no emotion toward his potential attackers whatsoever.  
"No, I can't say I do."

Whatever composure Roxas had left was broken by this one statement, and he charged, trailing his Keyblades behind him, and attacked with a previously unseen ferocity. His arms seemed to be a blur, before something flashed and sent him sliding back across the floor. Everyone else formed a line behind him as he stood up. Even then, it was clear that he had managed to do some serious damage to his foe, who seemed visibly weakened, but not beaten. He stood up, and ran for the door behind him.

When the group gave chase, they found it led to the first different room they'd encountered. Instead of the large chamber, it was a spiral staircase over a black abyss. And it was swarming with Nobodies of varying power.  
"Well, the only way is up." Jon was stating the obvious again. He found it helped him keep a grip on what was going on.

They ran up the huge staircase, swatting Dusks and Creepers down left and right, before being blocked by a group of Samurai. It was then that everyone saw how powerful Roxas really was, as he faced them with Oathkeeper in front of him and Oblivion raised behind his head, and then charged at them, leading through with Oblivion in a wide sweep and then using both in a variety of spinning manoeuvres that left none standing. The more powerful Nobodies seemed to give them a wide berth after that, and the group then surged up the stairs again, slightly awed at what they had just seen, whilst continuing to fend off the weaker ones. The only one of the group who wasn't really surprised was Riku, who had fought Roxas at his full power before, and lost.

The door at the top of the staircase opened out onto an open field beyond the city. Saïx was there, kneeling on the ground and breathing heavily. He looked up at the group, who stood in a line abreast in front of him.  
"You... have done well... to come this far..." His voice was weak. "But... you shall go no further..." He summoned his Claymore, and hauled himself to his feet, using the huge sword as a crutch. He raised his hand, causing the clouds to part, revealing the moon, which sat full and blood red in the night sky. It seemed to fill Saïx with power, and his strength came flooding back. Only now he was different, possessing a feral rage that showed in the way he charged straight at the group, swinging madly. The first stroke would have taken Sora's head off had he not ducked under it, and followed through with a strike to the shoulder. Saïx stumbled briefly, then turned and cracked Sora with the flat of his sword. He fell to the floor, rambling incoherently, before passing out altogether. Jon slid under the next swipe, and crouch-ran over to where Sora had passed out. He did a cursory vitals check (breathing and pulse – both were steady), before shaking him forcefully.  
"Hey. Wake up!" He held up two of his fingers. Nothing wrong with being sure. "How many fingers?"  
"I'll have two cheeseburgers and a large order of fries..."  
"What?"  
Then Sora passed out again. Jon looked up. Roxas was holding Saïx fairly well, blocking strike after strike from the berserker, before repelling him and going on the offensive. He reached down and rummaged in the medical pouch briefly, before cursing under his breath, and picked up his Keyblade.  
"Heal." He whispered under his breath, directing the ring of green light at Sora. His eyes flicked open, and he sat up, before rubbing the top of his head.

Saïx was barely holding up against Roxas's attacks, blocking each one just before it made contact. However, his concentration was broken by a pair of Keyblades spinning into his back. This distraction broke his block, and Roxas smashed him repeatedly, driving him to the floor, darkness apparently streaming slowly from his wrists and neck.  
"So... This... is it?"  
The darkness was flowing faster now.  
"The black talon... Is ready..."

No sooner had he said that, the darkness forced its way out, forming a torrent over his hands and face, arcing him backward. And then he was gone, with only a few bloodstained bits of grass giving a clue anything happened there at all. However, the ground began to shake, and a huge crack began to open in the rock around them.  
"Back to the door! Hurry!" Riku took charge, since Sora still seemed a little disoriented. The five made it through the door and back onto the staircase, Jon and Roxas hauling it shut just before the crack reached them. The room was still shaking as they ran back down, but upon entering the room at the bottom, they found it had changed completely, being a balcony looking straight into a rock wall...

A/N: Well, there we are. Gratuitous fast-rope insertion. Which I probably got wrong XD. And the flashes are here. Even if everyone's already figured out what the deal is with them (well it was fairly obvious...).


	16. Chapter 16

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.

All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders, be it Square, Disney or whoever. Since no-one actually reads this, it's unlikely that I'm going to get sued over it, but please don't anyway.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 16

World: The World With No Name

On the surface, the ground was visibly cracking in a number of places, with more and more chasms opening across the open plain. Eventually, the ground began to rise, and vanished in an explosion of darkness, leaving a huge hole behind. Donald and Goofy watched this from the Gummi Ship as it circled high above, and in the hole they could see something deeply troubling.  
"Sora? What's happening? Sora? SORA!?"

It was a castle.

The castle rose out of the hole and towered over the city. Now the picture was complete, and the world almost perfectly resembled The World That Never Was. The group watched from the balcony as the castle climbed out of the ground and into the sky, before trying to climb up again. However, they were blocked by a cloaked figure jumping off the roof above them.  
"_You shall go no further."_ The voice was familiar, but different at the same time.  
"You know, you aren't the first to say that." Sora was being argumentative.  
"_That may be. But I will be the first to manage it."_ He held out his hand, and a pair of glowing spheres began to spin round it, before extending outwards to form a double bladed sword. Each of the blades had a pattern engraved into it, one a feathered wing, the other a clawed talon. He spun the weapon expertly, settling into a very familiar position, with his left hand held forward, and the weapon in his right lowered and pointed backwards. Everyone else drew their Keyblades and faced down the stranger. He shook his head, then reached up with his free hand and pulled down his hood. What they saw underneath shocked everyone.

The figure could almost have been Jon's exact double, except for the fact his hair was black and had a very pronounced white stripe in it, and his eyes were yellow, as opposed to Jon's blueish-green.  
"This is not your fight."  
"Isn't it? Best I can tell, you're standing between us and where we need to go."  
"Maybe. And so I must stop you." However, as he charged Jon shot out and blocked his strike, before forcing his sword into the ground and holding it there.  
"Go! I'll catch up later!"  
He then tried to strike his double in the face, whilst the rest of the group ran up the ramp behind them.

Eventually, the four of them paused for breath in a large room. It was not too different from the one they fought against Saïx in, but featured a glowing blue doorway in the middle. The only other way in or out was the door they just came through.

"Are you sure he knows what he's doing?" Kairi was sceptical.

"It's a bit late for that now. I just hope that he did when he leapt out like that."

Below them, Jon locked blades with his opponent.  
"Who are you, anyway?"  
"Isn't it obvious? I'm you." He took advantage of this opening to sweep Jon's legs out from under him, sending him to the floor. "But with one crucial difference." He placed one of the blades against Jon's throat. His carotid artery could be seen pulsating madly out of fear and exertion right next to the tip. One swipe and his own heartbeat would drive the blood from his body.  
"And what's that?"  
"I'm your untapped potential. What you could have been."  
"Oh yeah? Then potential your way out of this. _FIRE!_"  
The fireball lanced out of his hand and into his double's chest, launching him a good five feet through the air. Jon stood up, ignoring the pain in the side of his face where the blade had caught it, and retrieved his Keyblade.

Above, on the other side of the door, the four found what seemed to be a sloped area heading down to a sheer drop beyond. Higher above this, something seemed to be distorting the night's sky. Ahead of them, another hooded figure stood, waiting.

Far below, one of the combatants gained the upper hand and threw their opponent into the wall, where they slumped to the ground and lay there, unmoving.

On the slope, the hooded figure turned to face the group.  
"_So you made it then. Congratulations. But now, it's over."_  
"I don't think so somehow."  
"_Sadly, that no-longer matters."_  
Behind them, a smaller hooded figure stepped through the portal.  
"_It is done then?"_  
The figure nodded, then took up a position behind the other. The taller one then reached up and pulled down his hood.

Xemnas. Leader of the Organisation. Known to the others simply as "The Superior".

"Strange. You seem to have no respect for your master." He was addressing Roxas. "Now **KNEEL!**" As if to drive the command home, he hit Roxas with a stream of lightning, driving him to his knees, writhing in pain.  
"You... Are... Not... My... Master!" The heroic willpower in that statement created a shockwave that shattered the lightning bolt and exploded across the slope, nearly knocking everyone off their feet.  
"Very well. Destroy them." He motioned for the smaller figure to advance. They did nothing. "I command you! **DESTROY THEM!**"  
"_No."_ That one word was dripping with malice and a hint of smugness as well. Xemnas simply summoned an Ethereal Blade from his right hand.  
"Either you destroy them, or I destroy you."  
"_I don't think you will." _The figure swept its right arm back, before summoning a weapon in a wave of light.

A few minutes before, Jon faced down his double, having chased him into the portal room, and who was now quite badly wounded after being thrown by the fireball.  
"So what are you, other than what I could, or should have been?"  
"I am you, and you are me. Or do you not remember what happened in that lab?"  
Jon tried to remember what happened in Vexen's lab. The memories surfaced with difficulty. He remembered one of the hooded men rolling up his sleeve and slitting his arm where the Heartless had mauled him, and drawing out a sample of his blood from the wound, which seemed to be tainted with traces of dark blue as well as carmine red.  
"So you are..."  
"I'm your Replica, with the odd little bit of Heartless thrown in." He motioned at his eyes, before making a wild charge straight at Jon, who simply lifted his Keyblade and drove it straight into his Replica's chest, before swinging him round and throwing him into a wall, where he slumped to the floor.  
"I guess... I was wrong..." His body then disappeared in a burst of shadow, the replicated heart hovering briefly before shattering. All that was left was the black robe. Jon looked up as he heard shouting from above, and decided to try a little stealth tactic. He grabbed the robe, and slid it on. At once, his regular clothes changed to a pair of full black gloves, black trousers and knee length black boots with a silver trim. The same as all the Organisation members. He then pulled up the hood, and stepped through the portal.

Up on the slope, Jon pulled back his hood as the light subsided revealing his Keyblade.  
"Hmmm... Impressive. It would seem the Black Talon failed." Xemnas's attention was drawn to the sound of five more Keyblades being summoned. However, before they could attack, the sound of someone snapping their fingers echoed through the room. Time seemed to slow, and then Xemnas burst into a familiar sort of blue flame. He didn't seem to burn though.  
"How... how could you? You traitor!"_  
"Did you really think I would bring back the one person powerful enough to stop me?"_  
"I should have known you would do this..." Then the flames petered out and Xemnas collapsed into a pile of ash on the floor. Another hooded figure stepped from the shadows. Roxas guessed who it was.  
"Zexion."  
"_Indeed, Number Thirteen." _He reached up, and pulled back his hood, allowing his blue-silver hair to spill out once more. "It seems the five of you threw quite the spanner in to the workings of an otherwise perfect plan."  
Jon walked up behind him.  
"Who says We're finished?"

A/N: Well, there we are. I suppose I could have structured that better and made it less obvious what was going on, and possibly captured Xemnas's hamminess better.


	17. Chapter 17

Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.

All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders, be it Square, Disney or whoever. Since no-one actually reads this, it's unlikely that I'm going to get sued over it, but please don't anyway.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Part 17

World: The World With No Name

"It seems the five of you threw quite the spanner in to the workings of an otherwise perfect plan."  
Jon walked up behind Zexion.  
"Who says We're finished?"  
"It matters not whether you think that. Because everything you have done has been in line with my plan..."  
"What!" Sora was outraged.  
"The destruction of your world and all the others. Exactly as planned."  
"How? How did you survive?" Roxas was confused.  
"Vexen isn't the only one who can create Replicas. I thought you would have realised that."  
"But... Why?" Sora needed to know.  
"Because... of this."  
Zexion raised his hand, pulling the clouds apart to reveal a second moon, this one heart shaped and glowing yellow. Roxas knew what it was.  
"That's..."

Kingdom Hearts.

"Precisely. Enhanced by the power of the Hearts of worlds, it stands complete once more. And no, there is nothing that can stop me from claiming that power. Not even you."  
He jumped, carrying through a reverse flip over Jon's head, and hovered over the city. Buildings began to split apart, and something rose out from underneath them. An arm here, a leg there. Zexion was constructing a giant robot from the city.

"We have to stop him."  
"True. But we have other things we need to do here. Kairi, Roxas, go find Naminé and get her back to the ship. The three of us'll try to buy you some time." Sora was back in command.  
"Right." The pair ran off back the way they'd come. Assuming this castle was laid out in the same way as the original, Roxas should have been able to lead her to the dungeon.

"OK. Here goes." Sora took a running leap off the end of the slope and down into the city. Jon looked at Riku, shrugged, and followed, spinning down through the buildings and thudding into the ground. Up ahead, Zexion's robot was complete, and towered over the city.  
"Right. So how do we destroy it?"  
Before Sora could come up with any sort of strategy, a laser burst from the Robot's hand forced them to scatter.

Kairi heard the explosions from outside as the two of them raced through the castle corridors.  
"Sounds like they need our help. We need to hurry."  
"Right. This way."

The Soundless Prison was located deep within the bowels of the castle. In the corner of one cell, Naminé was huddled, listening with what could almost be termed fear to the explosions outside. Suddenly, the bars of her cell flashed and vanished. She looked up to see what was happening, but then another explosion, close this time, made her curl up even tighter with a muffled shriek.  
"Hey. It's OK. I've got you." Roxas crouched down and put his arms round her, hugging her head close to his chest as the next explosion came. He could hear her sobbing gently. "Come on, we have to get you out of here."

Jon leapt up and delivered a strike to the back of the robot's leg, his black robe billowing in the force from the last explosion. The blow tore a small chunk out of the armour, revealing the machinery underneath. Another blow made it spark a bit, but didn't seem to do any damage.  
"How do we stop this thing?"  
As if to answer this question, a large blue bolt ripped out of nowhere and slammed into the right arm of the robot, tearing it off and sending it crashing to the ground.

Having left Kairi and Naminé together in the forward area of the ship, Roxas climbed up into the cockpit.  
"How're they doing?"  
"Not good." It was obvious from his tone of voice that Donald was worried. Roxas watched the robot fire another laser burst into the city, sending buildings crashing down.  
"Well, I'm not just gonna sit here and do nothing." He went over to the pilot's seat, and began to fire up the engines.  
"Wait, what are you doing?"  
"What does it look like?" He eased the huge ship off the ground and into the air. "Helping out. Charge the main cannons."  
"Right." Donald jumped up into his seat and hit a control on the panel. A faint rumbling could be heard from below.  
"Easy now... FIRE!"  
Donald smacked the control, sending a laser blast slamming into the robot's arm.

Sora looked up as the Gummi Ship flew overhead, and began to open fire on Zexion's robot. He then jumped up, and began to climb the leg in front of him. Jon was puzzled.  
"What's he doing?"  
Riku dropped down next to him.  
"What needs to be done." He then sprinted off and began to climb as well. Jon shook his head, sighed, and then followed the pair. Sora made it up to the chest, and drove his Keyblade into the armour plate, using it to tear it out exposing Zexion's cockpit. He turned and used an energy ball to blast Sora away, just as the next salvo smashed into the armour in front of him. The explosion ripped through the chest and tore the upper part of the robot off, sending the whole thing crashing to the ground. Zexion staggered from the wreckage on the rooftops as the three approached, Keyblades ready.  
"This... Isn't... Over..."  
A rumbling from underground could be heard, as the ground split open again, revealing a hangar under the city. Out of it rose a grey, white and black ship, and Zexion jumped up into it, before strafing the general area around the group, sending them running and jumping across the roofs trying to escape. Another wave of blue bolts forced the ship to break off and flee.  
"Sora! Head for the large building off to your right." Roxas came over the comm. "I'll pick you up there."  
"Gotcha."

The trio ran across the rooftops, heading for the building, when another burst smashed into the concrete behind them.  
"He's coming back around! Where are you?" Sora was shouting into his comm-block.  
"Almost there, hang on!"  
The Gummi Ship swung round ahead, and the hatch was open. A rope ladder was hanging from it. Sora and Riku both made the jump easily enough, but Jon was expecting to misjudge and fall again, just like last time. What he wasn't counting on was the fact he could jump a lot further and higher than before, and as a result made the jump just as easily as the others, before climbing up and into the ship. He paused to slip off the robe and his harness, putting the comm-block in his pocket again, before heading up to the cockpit, feeling the ship lurch as it moved off through a banked turn, and hearing the familiar deep rumble of both the engines and the blasters firing.

"He's going for the Kingdom! Hold on!" Sora rammed the throttle forward as far as it would go, sending their ship rocketing after Zexion's. "See if you can hit his engines."  
Riku was in the gunner's seat, and began tapping buttons to zero the targeting sensor.  
"I've got a lock!"  
The blue bolt smashed into the left engine pod, and sent the ship spinning out of control, right into the surface of the yellow moon. Sora sent the ship into a dive, heading for the crash site. By the time they landed and ran there, all they could find was wreckage, and a set of footprints in the dust leading away from it. Sora crouched next to the trail to get a better look, then stood up.  
"Right then. The last run."  
Something flashed from over the ridge. And again, a pulsating mass of light that rolled across the sky.

Following the trail led the five to an altar of sorts surrounded by cliffs. Zexion was crouched by it, and a strange light seemed to be flooding into his body. He stood up and turned around. His eyes appeared to be glazed over with a pulsating blue light, and his voice seemed to have dropped several octaves as well.  
"**So, you made it. Just in time to witness your doom!"**  
The sound of a Keyblade being summoned is distinctive enough, but the sound of six is enough to send a shiver down the spine. Zexion countered this by beginning to transform into some strange monstrosity which towered over everyone, and then proceeded to summon a giant sword of its own.  
"It ends here!"  
"**For you, maybe. But for me, things have only just begun!"**  
He swung the sword, scattering the group. Sora leapt up and ran along the length of the blade, and up onto the monster's shoulder, before driving his Keyblade into its neck. It simply ignored the massive pain, reached up and threw him off.  
"**You will not delay my ascension!"**  
"Won't we?" Roxas jumped up and delivered a double slash to the throat, sending a deluge of black smoke across the ground. The monster stopped briefly, then began to change form. This time, it settled back to looking like Zexion, only in some weird heavy armour. This time he used two smaller versions of the sword he had just carried, and swung them a lot faster. Jon flipped over a strike, sailed over his head and delivered a strike to the base of his skull. He staggered forward, before simply turning and swatting Jon away. Almost immediately, Kairi managed to land an Ice blast on the blade of one of the swords, before Riku blocked it and caused it to shatter. Armour!Zexion cast the useless sword away, taking the other in both hands and delivering a power strike with it. He missed, but the dust cloud blocked everyone's vision, allowing him to smack everyone into the cliffs one by one. When the dust settled, he was stood over Sora, sword raised and ready to strike.

No-one expected what happened next. But then no-one ever does.

Sora noticed something gold come spinning from his left, smacking Armour!Zexion in the face and sending him sprawling. Then a familiar green ring passed over his body and the pain in his leg disappeared. He looked over to where the gold object had come from, and saw a familiar group of figures.

King Mickey, Donald and Goofy.

"All right. It's time to finish this for good."  
The eight fighters formed a circle round Armour!Zexion. Each Keyblade seemed to have a sphere of light forming around the tip.  
"You sought to control the power of darkness, but it now controls you. There is only one thing that can save you now. The power... Of Light!"  
On Mickey's cue, everyone else aimed their Keyblades at the armoured form in front of them, the spheres compressing into a thin beam and striking it in the heart. Armour pieces flew off until Zexion's original form was restored. Sora lowered his Keyblade.  
"Everything you did; Everything you destroyed. Why did you do it?"  
"I... should have been... a god... You... stole that from me..." his voice was strained.  
"That is a power no-one should wield. Especially one of impure heart."  
Enraged by this, Zexion tried to stand and strike Sora, but fell forward, his body beginning to dissolve into darkness.  
"No... Impossible..."  
"If it was impossible, it wouldn't be happening."  
Zexion dissolved completely, leaving absolutely no trace of his existence, as all of his armour vanished into darkness as well.

Sora's Keyblade began to glow again. He followed it to the altar, where the Keyhole appeared. But this time, he heard two sounds, first of a lock opening, and then of one closing. Then the ground began to shake. Lights began to rise out of the cliffs and zoom off into space.  
"Back to the ship! Let's go!"  
Around them, the cliffs were collapsing, in the same way they had done back on the Destiny Islands so long ago. Only this time it was a wave of Light, not Darkness, that was causing it. Eventually, they passed the wreckage and re-boarded their own ship, lifting off just as the area was consumed by the wave. Suddenly, the heart-shaped moon exploded into a thousand pin-pricks of light, which zoomed out to form the stars in the sky once more as the destroyed worlds re-formed.

The sun was setting over the Destiny Islands as Sora brought the ship into land back in the cove it had departed from back when the whole incident began. It was just the six of them now; Donald and Goofy had returned to the Castle with the King. And yet, something had been troubling Naminé throughout the flight. It was only when they were stood on the beach that she revealed what it was.  
"I've noticed something. There are dormant chains in your heart." She was talking to Jon.  
"Sorry?" He didn't understand.  
"You mean memory chains?" Sora seemed to realise where this was going.  
"Precisely. I do not yet know why, but his heart holds memories he likely has no knowledge of."  
"If that's true, it would explain the flashes he claims to have had." Roxas spoke up.  
"Indeed. It may be possible for me to bring these chains out, but it will take time."  
"How long?"  
"A few months, at most. Unlike what I had to do to you, this will not require me to locate individual links that have been scattered, merely drawing out existing chains. Ansem's laboratory in Twilight Town should still be equipped for this procedure."  
"All right. I'll go with you." Roxas spoke up again. "There's nothing here I need to stick around for urgently anyway."  
"Cool. See you in a few months then." Sora raised his hand as if to say goodbye. Jon nodded, and Naminé turned and opened a Corridor, leading the pair through it and into the darkness.

Arriving in the Lab, Roxas turned to Naminé.  
"I thought you could only manipulate Sora's memories?"  
"I said I had power over his memories and those of the people connected to him. And I'd say that everything he's done these past few weeks would create a connection, assuming there wasn't one already."  
"Ah. I see."

The trio passed through a corridor that was very familiar to Roxas – He'd gone down it before in his last moments before joining with Sora again. Naminé stopped the group at the end of the line of glass pods, and it opened.  
"Here we are."  
Jon was hesitant.  
"Don't worry. As far as you'll know, it'll just be like falling asleep."  
He stepped up into the pod, and watched as the petal-like doors closed in front of him._  
Oh well, here we go..._

A flash. Jon's memory threw up an image. He was hiding in a closet as something happened outside.  
"_Leave now, while you still can!"_  
"_Heh... If you could have stopped me, you would have."_  
The sound that followed was familiar now, but wasn't before. The sound of a Keyblade. Then there was a bang, and someone was thrown against the door. Then the door was opened, and the last thing he saw was a man in a black hood standing over him, before everything faded...

The months passed. At one point, Roxas left to do something known only to himself, and returned fairly soon after.  
"I did some digging in the Organisation's computer."  
"Why?"  
"I wanted to find out what was actually going on with him. I came across this." He handed Naminé a notepad.

_File 24145  
Project: Black Talon  
Aim: To determine how use of a Keyblade is gained and passed.  
Location: Castle Infinity.  
Subject: Acquired, child of known/retired Keyblade wielder.  
Status: On Hold/Superseded – Subject secure within digital environment pending further action._

"Hmmm..." She seemed troubled by this revelation.  
"How's the restoration coming?"  
"About three-quarters of the way there. I can't say for sure for the simple reason that I don't know how deep these chains go. Out of interest, how can you be sure that this refers to him?"  
"Saïx said something about the Black Talon just before he vanished and we encountered his replica."  
"I see. But why was it superseded?"  
"Judging by the date-codes, they put it on hold around about the time I joined them. Probably because they didn't need it urgently any more."

Eventually, Jon woke to the sight of the inside of the pod, and the doors opening with a quiet hiss. He stepped out, and into the corridor, before trying to find his way out. Outside, it was night-time, and he could hear the soft chirping of crickets in the forest. Eventually, after wandering the town, he found himself sat at the top of the station clock tower, looking out over the town. He was suddenly aware of someone behind him, and turned to see Roxas leaning against the wall.  
"Nice view, isn't it? Axel and I used to come up here all the time."  
"Yeah."  
"So why did you come up here?"  
"I just... needed time to get everything in order in my head. Learning my life as I knew it was a lie."  
"I know the feeling." It was true. After all, Roxas had been convinced he'd lived in the town all his life, and made to forget his time in the Organisation. "By the way, you never actually told me your name."  
"Oh, sorry. It's J..."He got the first letter out, before realising that was wrong as well. "... It's Kazé."  
"Nice to finally meet you properly. Come on, let's get back to the mansion. We need to get up to speed on where to send you back to."

Out in the plaza, they were waylaid by a number of Heartless.  
"I presume you still know how to fight?" Roxas was partly sarcastic, part serious. If Kazé couldn't fight anymore, it meant something might have gone wrong with the restoration. Whatever fears he had were quelled when he slid out the Raven's Wing, and the pair went to work on the swarm.

With the last Soldier gone, Kazé turned to Roxas.  
"I just realised something. When we ran into Saïx, you mentioned a girl. Who was she?"  
"I'm not sure." Roxas dissipated his Keyblades. "I just saw a flash of something. I'm not entirely sure what it was now."

The mansion was quiet in the early morning light. The three of them were sat around the table in the Library, discussing what needed to happen next, as well as what had happened in the past.  
"From what I've been able to extract from your memory, you were a resident of the Destiny Islands before the Organisation kidnapped you and put you in the digital world."  
"Right. I'm not sure about simply dropping back in though. As far as any of them know, I've been missing for the best part of a year and a half."  
"So was Sora. Either way, we need to return there anyway."  
"All right then. Let's go."

The morning sun sat low over the beach as the Corridor opened. Kazé found it hard to believe that this beach was where everything for him in this adventure had begun. The sand rippled slightly beneath the portal as he stepped from it, followed by Roxas and Naminé. Conscious of the heat of the summer morning, he pulled the sleeves on his jumper up to just above his elbows.  
"Well, home at last."  
He'd lived on the islands for thirteen years, but everything was unfamiliar. His perception of reality had been skewed a bit by having spent over a year in a digital world. Someone was waiting. Kazé recognised who it was.  
"Dad?"  
"Kazé? Is that really you?"  
"Yeah. It's me. You aren't imagining it."  
Kazé's father knelt down in front of him. He was a lot taller than his son, but since Kazé was only fourteen that wasn't really surprising. His face bore the marks of a great many battles over the years, a life he'd kept secret from his son. Not that it mattered anymore.  
"What happened?"  
"I'm not sure how much I can tell you, or how much you'd believe even if I did." As far as his father knew, he'd vanished off the face of the earth that night.  
By now, Sora and Kairi had arrived on the beach, having heard the distinctive sound of the corridor opening and closing.  
"It doesn't matter. The point is, you're safe now."

Roxas and Naminé left the pair to their reunion, and moved up the beach to handle their own.  
"I thought he seemed familiar. I just couldn't work out why." Sora was confused.  
"That's the way the memory chains work. They connect everyone who's ever met a person to them, and one change can have wide ranging effects. When he was put into the digital world and it suppressed his true memory, you all forgot he ever existed."  
"Well, shall we get on with it?"  
"Right. You first?" Roxas wanted to make sure Naminé returned to where they belonged safely.  
"Of course." Naminé held out her hand to Kairi, who took it, enveloping the pair in a bright glowing light. When it faded, the blonde-haired girl was gone.  
"Well, it's been fun."  
"Yeah. See you on the inside." Sora held out his hand, and the light show repeated itself for, hopefully, the last time.

By now, the sun had cleared the horizon, and the light danced through the waves as Kazé and the others walked back up the beach toward the town. The three of them in the know could relax a bit knowing that the Heartless couldn't destroy worlds any more (again), and that they could get back to their lives. Apart from the fact the Heartless would always be drawn to them, just in more manageable numbers. Which they did. Five Shadows, plus a couple of Soldiers. They were met by the sound of three Keyblades appearing out of thin air, and then another. Kazé turned round to see his father holding the new blade. This one was red and vaguely flame-shaped, with a dragon on the keychain.  
"Huh."  
Kazé's surprise was broken by one of the Soldiers body-slamming him, and he lashed out with his Keyblade, a move which would have taken its head off had it not exploded in the usual way. He ducked under the next swipe, this from one of the shadows, and hit it with the reverse edge, flinging it away and into a tree, where it exploded as well. The combination of two expert Keyblade users, one competent and one rookie left the path clear in moments. Kazé sheathed his blade. He was evidently surprised.  
"You never told me you could do that as well."  
"I thought it would keep you safe if no-one knew. I was wrong, and I'm sorry. I always wondered if you'd end up being able to as well."  
"Well, I can. Just not very well." Kazé laughed, along with everyone else. "It's just a shame the events behind it could have been better..." He resolved to tell his father everything that had happened, if only because he was the only person likely to believe him. Sora came over.  
"So what's your real story then?"  
Kazé's father leant against a tree before beginning.  
"Fifteen years ago, I was stranded here after fighting a group of Neoshadow heartless. I was wounded badly, and didn't think I'd survive. Until someone took me in, treated my wounds, and helped me recover. That was your mother." He nodded at Kazé. "After that, I opted not to leave after I healed, and decided to settle down. And the rest, to be fair, is history."  
"So what happened to her?" Kazé was wondering why his father had been there alone.  
"It was after you were taken. She disappeared after the Heartless came _en masse_ that night." He nodded at Sora, knowing he understood. "I never saw her again."  
It took a second for everyone to process this little revelation. Even he looked sad just thinking about it, and Sora was the only one who really understood what it meant. Kazé looked out to sea, and watched the sun rising over the small island.  
A brand new day.

A/N: Well, there we are, at the end. Took long enough.


	18. Epilogue

Here's the legal stuff again, for the last time. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.  
All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders, be it Square, Disney or whoever. Since no-one actually reads this, it's unlikely that I'm going to get sued over it, but please don't anyway.

Anyway…

Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate

Epilogue

World: Destiny Islands

Kazé sat on the beach, looking out to the ocean. In his hand was the dragon pendant that had been giving him flashes during that year. It was only now that he actually understood what its significance was. It was something his father had given him, not that long before the Organisation had come for him. He stared at it, thinking about everything that had happened, and where everyone they'd help was now. The track on his music player ticked over, and started playing a slightly sad piano piece._  
That's kinda appropriate actually..._

In the Outlaw's Forest, Robin and Marian were happily married, King Richard had returned and the kingdom was freed from his brother's jealous tyranny. In Port Royal, Will and Elizabeth had a son, and he'd attended to his new duty as Captain of the _Flying Dutchman_. Jack had lost the _Pearl_ to Barbossa (again), but had set out for new adventures on his own.

And what about everyone else? The universe was safe again, thanks to what they had done. In their brief stopover in the Radiant Garden they'd found that all of the unsealed Keyholes had once again been closed by the release of the hearts of worlds, so the Heartless weren't the world destroying horror they used to be anymore.

And what about him? He was back in school, trying to catch up on everything he'd missed out on in a year and a half. But there were some good things as well. Like the friends he'd forgotten he had. He stood up, and slid the pendant back over his head, before tucking it under his t-shirt. He looked round to see Sora stood behind him.  
"You OK?"  
"Yeah. Just think, that's all. About where we've been, who we've met, and what we've done. I'm still trying to get my head round how you cope with it all."  
"You just get used to it after a while."  
"I guess you're right."

As they walked off the beach and back towards the town, a line of Shadow Heartless appeared in front of them, again. Kazé slid out his Keyblade, and his music player ticked over again, this time to a track he didn't recognise. He looked at the screen.  
"_Hand in Hand"__  
I don't remember putting this on there..._  
He looked at Sora, who simply nodded, and the pair charged right at the line...

A/N: OK, just thought I needed to tie up a few plot threads (What the deal with Kazé's pendant is (since the Chekhov's Gun didn't go off in the story proper), and what happened to everyone else). And got the chance to use the music player for the meta-fictional gag I'd been working up to, since "Hand in Hand" playing over the end of the epilogue is a feature of most of the games and it seemed like a bit of a tradition break to leave it out. The "sad piano piece" bit was mainly a reference to the fact I was listening to Xion's theme when I got to it. Youtube it if you haven't heard it.


End file.
